Southern Levant

The Levant is defined as the geographical region bordering the Mediterranean , roughly between Egypt and Anatolia (modern Turkey ). The southern Levant is therefore roughly the same area as that occupied by the modern states of Israel (including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip ) and Jordan . These terms are used by archaeologists , to avoid taking a modern geo-political stance in a region rife with border disputes. The archaeology of the southern Levant is generally conceived as a series of phases or stages in human cultural and evolutional development based, for the most part, on tool technology for early pre-historic, proto-historic and early historic periods. Later phases are generally associated with historical periods and are named accordingly. While there is no single, accepted sequence that all archaeologists agree upon, the basic conventions indicate a number of Stone Ages , followed by a Copper/Stone age, in turn followed by a Bronze Age . The names given to them,derived from the Greek , are also used widely for other regions. The different ages in turn are often divided up into sequential or sometimes parallel chrono-cultural facies, sometimes called “cultures” or “periods”. Sometimes their names are derived from European prehistory , at other times from local sites, often where they were first discovered.

The Southern Levant encompasses roughly the southern half of the shaded area. The Levant is the geographical region bordering the Mediterranean , roughly between Egypt and Anatolia (modern Turkey ). The Southern Levant is roughly encompassed by Israel , the Palestinian territories , Jordan and the southern part of Lebanon .

Satellite imagery of the Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region encompassing the southern half of the Levant . It corresponds approximately to modern-day Israel , Palestine , and Jordan ; some definitions also include southern Lebanon , southern Syria and/or the Sinai Peninsula . As a strictly geographical description, it is sometimes used by archaeologists and historians to avoid the religious and political connotations of other names for the area. Like much of Southwestern Asia , the Southern Levant is an arid region consisting mostly of desert and dry steppe , with a thin strip of wetter, temperate climate along the Mediterranean coast. Geographically it is dominated by the Jordan Valley , a section of the Great Rift Valley bisecting the region from north to south, and containing the Sea of Galilee , the Jordan River and the Dead Sea – the lowest point on the earth's land surface. The Southern Levant has a long history and is one of the areas of the world most intensively investigated by archaeologists. It is considered likely to be the first place that both early hominins and modern humans colonised outside of Africa. Consequently, it has a rich Stone Age archaeology, stretching back as early as 1.5 million years ago. With one of the earliest sites for urban settlements of humans, it also corresponds to the western parts of the Fertile Crescent .

Geographical region Satellite imagery of the Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region encompassing the southern half of the Levant . It corresponds approximately to modern-day Israel , Palestine , and Jordan ; some definitions also include southern Lebanon , southern Syria and/or the Sinai Peninsula . As a strictly geographical description, it is sometimes used by archaeologists and historians to avoid the religious and political connotations of other names for the area. Like much of Southwestern Asia , the Southern Levant is an arid region consisting mostly of desert and dry steppe , with a thin strip of wetter, temperate climate along the Mediterranean coast. Geographically it is dominated by the Jordan Valley , a section of the Great Rift Valley bisecting the region from north to south, and containing the Sea of Galilee , the Jordan River and the Dead Sea – the lowest point on the earth's land surface. The Southern Levant has a long history and is one of the areas of the world most intensively investigated by archaeologists. It is considered likely to be the first place that both early hominins and modern humans colonised outside of Africa. Consequently, it has a rich Stone Age archaeology, stretching back as early as 1.5 million years ago. With one of the earliest sites for urban settlements, it also corresponds to the western parts of the Fertile Crescent .

Geographical region Satellite imagery of the Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region that corresponds approximately to present-day Israel , Palestine , and Jordan ; some definitions also include southern Lebanon , southern Syria and the Sinai Peninsula . As a strictly geographical description, it is sometimes used by archaeologists and historians to avoid the religious and political connotations of other names for this area. Like much of Southwestern Asia , the Southern Levant is an arid region consisting mostly of desert and dry steppe , with a thin strip of wetter, temperate climate along the Mediterranean coast. Geographically it is dominated by the Jordan Valley , a section of the Great Rift Valley bisecting the region from north to south, and containing the Sea of Galilee , the Jordan River and the Dead Sea —the lowest point on the Earth's land surface. The Southern Levant has a long history and is one of the world's most intensively investigated areas by archaeologists. It is considered likely to be the first place that both early hominins and modern humans colonized outside of Africa. Consequently, it has a rich Stone Age archaeology, stretching back as early as 1.5 million years ago. With one of the earliest sites for urban settlements, it also corresponds to the western parts of the Fertile Crescent .