Neolithic Dispersals from the Levantine Corridor: a Mediterranean Perspective

The earliest agro-pastoralists of the Near East are generally held to have emerged in a narrow Levantine Corridor. Agricultural life initially spread from this discrete core zone in the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to adjacent inland regions, only reaching the Mediterranean coast of Syria by the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. Recent discoveries on Cyprus, far to the west of the core zone, prompt re-configuration of several elements of this model. They also provide evidence for characteristics of a regional variant of the PPNB and, in a broader context, fresh data for an understanding of the triggers and mechanics of precocious neolithic dispersals.