Yabrud II rock-shelter archaeological sequence (Syria) and possible Proto-Aurignacian origin in the Levant

After more than 80 years of Yabrud II rock-shelter excavations by A. Rust in Syria, the site’s Levantine Mousterian and Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological sequence does not have yet a unanimous archaeological interpretation. The present paper tries to propose new understanding for the sequence and, as a result, it appears to be of a “dotted line” character with no continuity at all except the layer 5-2 Levantine Aurignacian A / Phase 3 industry sequence. The latter industry is suggested to have its origin in a specific facies of Southern Levantine Early Ahmarian and being then transformed into Levantine Aurignacian B / Phase 4 industry, a possible “industrial starting point” for European Proto-Aurignacian.

“Leaving aside for the moment the chronological approach, let us try something rather different. Wherever the place of origin of the Aurignacian may be, we ought in that region to find an earlier culture stage from which it could have developed” (Garrod 1953:32).