Excavations of Dederiyeh Cave,Afrin,Syria

对黎凡特旧石器时代中期的年代学和古生物学的了解，可以比迄今为止得到的更透彻。有两个重要的事实值得注意：(a)在一个有充分记录的地层和文化序列中，在明显不同的沉积环境中发现了几具原始人类化石遗骸；(b)黎凡特莫斯特环境中形成的岩屑和动物组合的形态。如今，来自Dederiyeh洞穴的证据被认为是非常重要的，因为它已经成为少数几个在原始人类遗骸与组织良好的动物和岩石组合之间有明确地层联系的地点之一（尽管年龄测定正在进行中）。在这种情况下，Dederiyeh的证据可以为黎凡特地区最具争议的主题之一做出贡献，即解释两组不同的骨骼遗骸之间的时间和系统发育关系，这两组骨骼遗骸被归类为尼安德特人和早期现代人。发掘工作继续进一步阐明这个问题。

A far more thorough understanding of the chronology and paleontology for the Middle Paleolithic in the Levant can be established than was hitherto available. Two significant facts stand out : (a) the several fossil hominid remains found in significantly different depositional contexts during a well-documented stratigraphic and cultural sequence, and (b) the morphology of the lithic and faunal assemblages developed in the Levantine Mousterian contexts. The evidence from the Dederiyeh Cave is regarded as of major importance nowadays, because it has become one of the only few sites for which there are clear stratigraphic associations between hominid remains and well-organized faunal and lithic assemblages (though age determination is underway). Under these situations, the Dederiyeh evidence can contribute to one of the most controversial subjects in the Levant the interpretation of the chronological and phylogenetic relationships between the two different groups of skeletal remains, classified as Neanderthals and early modern humans. The excavations continue to shed further light on this subject.