The Last Glacial Maximum in the Mediterranean Levant

The Mediterranean Levant is a small region located at the geographical crossroads between three continents. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, the Sinai desert in the south, the Syro-Arabian desert on the east, and the Taurus mountains (southern Turkey) in the north. The scale of its topographic variability, the proximity to the sea, and its location in relation to the patterns of global atmospheric circulation, created a high degree of ecological variability across short distances unparalleled within the Old World ( Wigley & Farmer 1982 , Bar-Yosef 1987a , see Fig. 3.1) . This unique ecological mosaic greatly affected the socioeconomic developments during the closing millennia of the Pleistocene, which ultimately led to the emergence of sedentism and the subsequent adoption of agriculture.