PALEOCLIMATE DURING NEANDERTAL AND ANATOMICALLY MODERN HUMAN OCCUPATION AT AMUD AND QAFZEH, ISRAEL

Anatomically modern humans (AMH) were present in Israel from c. 115 kyr BP, while Neandertals were present between approximately 70 and 45 kyr BP. It has been proposed that these taxa alternated as interglacial warm, dry climate was followed by cool, dry glacial-age climate, better suited to cold-adapted Neandertals. We analyzed O and C isotopes in enamel (en) of goat and gazelle from Qafzeh Cave occupied by AMH at c 92 kyr BP, and Amud Cave, occupied by Neandertals between 70 and 53 kyr BP. Modern Israeli goats show little variation in δ¹⁸O(en), as expected for today’s winter-only precipitation regime. In contrast, δ¹⁸O(en) of single goat teeth at Amud varied by up to 6‰, which we interpret as seasonal changes in δ¹⁸O of precipitation and thus year-around rain. Neandertals at Amud therefore appear to have lived under colder and generally wetter conditions than those of today. δ¹⁸O(en) of goat teeth at Qafzeh shows less seasonal variation, more similar to the modern animals suggesting that limited or no rain fell in the summer during the occupation of Qafzeh. δ¹³C(en) in goats from the lower unit, in contrast to the upper unit, indicates the presence of abundant local C₄ plants. These data suggest that when AMH first arrived at Qafzeh, the climate was hotter and drier today. These two studies suggest that changes in ecology, which in turn affected the distribution of plant and prey faunal species, were significant factors contributing to the migration of AMH and, later, Neandertals to the Levant.