Elephants, horses, humans, and others: Paleoenvironments of the Levantine land bridge

Exchange of biota between Africa and Eurasia is only possible when the intervening environment is favorable, and no obstacles such as seas, deserts, or mountains bar the way. Detailed palynological and paleontological studies of the late Cenozoic southern Levantine sequences indicate several periods when a combination of such conditions occurred, allowing terrestrial biota migrations. The main waves of exchange involve the beginning (?) and end of the Rupelian (middle Oligocene), the earlier part of the Burdigalian and the Langhian (middle Miocene), and glacial phases of the Quaternary, the first of which occurred some 2.5-2 million years ago. In terms of natural environments, the southern Levant constituted an integral part of subtropical Africa during the migration periods, so there are no actual "out of Africa" (or "into Africa") movements, neither for humans nor for other biota.