The most ancient traces of hominids in the Near East are bone fragments dating back 1.4 million years (Lower Palaeolithic), discovered in the Jordan Valley, at Tel ‘Ubeidiya (north of Bissan). They are thought to belong to groups related to Homo erectus, who migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe along the Afro-Syrian Rift. Remains of Homo erectus are rare. The recent discovery of a skull fragment of the “Galilee Man” in the Zuttiyeh cave (north of Lake Tiberias) tells us something more about him. The fragment is between 300,000 to 250,000 years old, belonging - according to some scientists’ opinion - to the ancient Homo sapiens sapiens. Far richer archaeological evidence exists from the Middle Palaeolithic Age (100,000 - 35,000 years) but this raises complex issues of the parallel and/or mixed evolution of Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neandertaliensis) and modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens). Over this long period, their material cultures were similar (use of fire - known to Homo erectus, flint, tools, burial rites, etc.).

At Kebara (south of Mount Carmel), the bones of Neanderthals have been dated to as far back as 150,000 years; others, far more recent, again discovered at Kebara and at Amud, are 58,000 years old. These finds are therefore contemporary with modern man, while the oldest remains of modern man, approximately 92,000 year old, have been identified on the sites of es-Skhul cave and Jabal Qafzeh. These discoveries suggest a precocious differentiation of modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens) in Palestine - similar remains have come to light in Ethiopia and South Africa - and the simultaneous presence of Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neandertaliensis). Why the Neanderthals disappeared remains an enigma, although some specialist historians lean towards the theory of genetic absorption.

During the Upper Palaeolithic era, stone cultures diverged much more quickly. A new era succeeded it circa 12500 BCE with the development of the Natoufian culture (see the Shuqba Caves, p. 240) which spread through the entire Near East. Natoufian communities settled down, forming the first permanent villages with permanent structures and round houses. Alongside these newly sedenterised people were itinerant (semi-nomadic) communities, mainly populating the peripheral regions (Negev and Transjordan). As they made their home in one place, these people began to domesticate their environment and produce goods necessary for subsistence. This phenomenon of the neo-Stone Age occurred at more or less the same pace throughout the entire Fertile Crescent.

Between 9500 and 8000 BCE, cereal crops were grown in Palestine. Later, in South Anatolia (south-eastern Turkey) and the Zagros (Iraq and Iran), animal domestication developed circa 7500 BCE. Sedenterisation appears to have been the most decisive factor behind these changes; other significant innovations were the appearance of new techniques such as pottery making (circa 6000 BCE), new social structures (the construction of large, rectangular houses, for example, reflects a more complex collective and hierarchical organization than previously known), and a religion that worshipped gods.