TY - JOUR A1 - Kalbe, Johannes A1 - Jagher, Reto A1 - Puempin, Christine T1 - The spring of Nadaouiyeh Ain Askar - Paleoecology of a Paleolithic oasis in arid central Syria JF - Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences N2 - The site Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar, an ancient artesian spring near the village of El Kowm, Central Syria, is an example of long lasting human occupation in a desert environment throughout the Middle and Late Pleistocene. The excavations expose a succession of sedimentary units, containing an artifact assemblage assigned to the Acheulean techno-complex. Unit VI, attributed to the Marine Isotope Stage 13, is rich in ostracod valves and was chosen for the present environmental study. From these sediments Heterocypris salina, H. incongruens, Cyprideis torosa, Ilyocypris cf. bradyi, I. inermis, I. cf. gibba, Darwinula stevensoni, Plesiocypridopsis newtoni, Pseudocandona compressa, Candona cf. neglecta, Pseudocandona sp., Trajancypris sp., Physocypria sp. and Mixtacandona sp. are documented for the first time in the Middle Pleistocene of the arid environment of central Syria. Data from these microfossils as well as geochemical proxies implicate three phases, turning the wetland from a palustrine setting into a spring supplied pond with increasing salinity. The high mineralization of the spring waters enables a discussion about early hominin adaptability to brackish waters as drinking water resources, common within the steppe and desert environments along the “out-of-Africa”—corridor in the eastern Mediterranean. KW - Syria KW - Lower Paleolithic KW - Marine Isotope Stage 13 KW - Desert wetland ecosystems KW - Ostracoda KW - Drinking water quality Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.01.030 SN - 0031-0182 SN - 1872-616X VL - 446 SP - 252 EP - 262 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - THES A1 - Kalbe, Johannes T1 - Stepping stones hominin dispersal out of Africa BT - pleistocene lakes and wetlands in the Levant Y1 - 2016 ER -