Evidence for a humid interval at ~56e44 ka in the Levant and its potential link to modern humans dispersal out of Africa Dafna Langgut a, * , Ahuva Almogi-Labin b , Miryam Bar-Matthews b , Nadine Pickarski c , Mina Weinstein-Evron d a Laboratory of Archaeobotanyand Ancient Environments, Institute of Archaeology, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel b Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel St., 9550161 Jerusalem, Israel c Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy, and Paleontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115 Bonn, Germany d Laboratory of Palynology, Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 3498838 Haifa, Israel article info Article history: Received 6 December 2017 Accepted 7 August 2018 Available online 1 September 2018 Keywords: Modern humans Initial Upper Paleolithic MIS 3 Levant Pollen Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition abstract This study provides a detailed reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental conditions that prevailed during one of the periods of modern human migration out of Africa and their occupation of the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant during the Late Middle Paleolithic-Early Upper Paleolithic. Tracing the past vegetation and climate within the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant region is largely based on a south- eastern Mediterranean marine pollen record covering the last 90 kyr (core MD-9509). The various palynomorphs were linked to distinct vegetation zones that were correlated to the two climate systems affecting the study area: the low-latitude monsoon system and the North Atlantic-Mediterranean climate system. The bioprovince palynological markers show that during the period between ~56 and 44 ka, which covers the early part of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), there was an increase in transportation of pollen from Nilotic origin and a rise in dinoflagellate cyst ratios. These changes coincided with maximum insolation values at 65  N, which led to an enhancement in Nile River discharge into the Eastern Medi- terranean following the intensification of the African monsoonal system. At the same time, the rise in Mediterranean arboreal pollen values (broadleaved, coniferous and deciduous temperate trees) is most likely driven by increased precipitation related to the intensification of the North Atlantic-Mediterranean climate system. The ~56e44 ka wet event coincides with Dansgaard-Oeschger interstadials 14 and 12 and with a warming phase in the Levant, as evidenced by the melting of permafrost along the higher elevations of Mount Hermon. We suggest that African modern humans were able to cross the harsher arid areas due to the intensification of the monsoonal system during the first part of MIS 3, and inhabit the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant region where climatic conditions were favorable (wetter and warmer), even in the currently semiarid/steppe regions. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. The spread of modern humans out of Africa The transition between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic periods in the Levant entailed significant behavioral and technological innovations and may have corresponded with de- mographic changes triggered by the last major dispersal of modern humans from Africa to Eurasia (Mellars, 2006; Bar-Yosef and Belfer- Cohen, 2010; Douka et al., 2013; Hublin, 2015; Alex et al., 2017). The early major exodus of anatomically modern humans through the region was formed by the archaic modern humans from Qafzeh and Skhul, who manufactured Middle Paleolithic tools (Bar-Yosef, 1995). However, it is thought that this archaic modern human became extinct in the Levant, possibly during the transition from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a to MIS 4 at ~75 ka, and did not contribute to the much later colonization of Europe by modern humans (e.g., Shea, 2007; Soares et al., 2010). According to the genetic evidence, a modern human dispersal around 75e60 ka appears to have taken place along the ‘southern coastal route’ via the tropical coast of the * Corresponding author. E-mail address: langgut@post.tau.ac.il (D. Langgut). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Human Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.08.002 0047-2484/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Human Evolution 124 (2018) 75e90