Hominid Remains from Amud Cave in the Context of the Levantine Middle Paleolithic

The evolutionary and behavioral implications of the hominid remains from the old and new. Amud Cave excavations are discussed in this paper and viewed against the archaeological record of the Levantine Middle Paleolithic. On the biological level, the finds from Amud support the view that Neanderthals were a different species from Homo sapiens. While it is fully acknowledged that behavioral differences can not support or refute the claims for taxonomie differentiation, the analysis of mortuary practices indicates that both strong similarity and subtle differences between Neanderthals and АМН occur in this realm of symbolic behavior.