Pleistocene lakes in southern Israel and Jordan: the environmental conditions of the first step out of Africa

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Pleistocene lake sediments and associated prehistoric artifacts in the deserts of southern Israel and Jordan are evidence for significantly wetter conditions in the presently hyperarid region. The occurrence of lake sediments at a number of sites in this area provides a unique opportunity to investigate the environmental and climatic conditions in the Pleistocene using a West-East gradient of increasing distance from the Mediterranean Sea as a major moisture source. The extent, water depth, and water chemistry of the Pleistocene lakes in southern Israel and Jordan will be reconstructed by sedimentological, geochemical and palaeontological means. A synthesis of the geological and supplementary archaeological data will contribute to a better understanding of (1) the early, mid and late Pleistocene environmental and climatic history of southern Israel and Jordan, (2) of the shifts in atmospheric circulation patterns that potentially caused moisture fluctuations, (3) of the role of southern Israel and Jordan in the migration and possibly occupation of hominids on their way out of Africa, and (4) of the timing and local expression of groundwater recharge. Our study will provide important climate inferences for the southernmost Levant in comparison to the ongoing ICDP study of the Dead Sea Basin which is mainly controlled by the moisture conditions in northern Israel and Jordan.