Some 200,000-years-ago, In what is known as the northern Levant, a small group of technologically sophisticated humans brought home and dismembered a wealth of species. They killed and butchered a variety of game, including gazelles, deer and aurochs, the ancestors of modern cattle, using precisely pointed flint spearheads and micro-blades.

These early Homo sapiens hunted for acorns in the adjacent forests of oak, olive, and pistachio in the cool, humid climate of the coastal plain. They ate the salty leaves of the thorny saltbush and carried the yolks of the ostrich eggs back to the cave. These people most likely left Africa more than 200,000 years ago and traveled via lush areas to the Arabian Peninsula. We don't know how many of them crossed, how many died, and how many turned around. All we know is that they showed up in the Levant.