The biface assemblage from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: Illuminating patterns in "Out of Africa" dispersal

This article presents the main characteristics of a lithic assemblage in particular, its biface component, from the Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. We endeavor to demonstrate that this tradition did not evolve locally, within the Levant, but was rather a result of a diffusion of ideas and/or population from Africa into the Levant during the end of the Lower/beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The fact that other Acheulean industries present in the northern Dead Sea Rift resemble corresponding African traditions rather than each other may indicate that the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov occurence was not an isolated event. This phenomenon may be interpreted as representing a dynamic system in which populations and/or ideas dispersed out of Africa during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene in repetitive, distinct and separate waves.