Geographical range | Levant |
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Period | Upper Paleolithic |
Dates | 50,000—40,000 cal B.P. |
Preceded by | Mousterian |
Followed by | Antelian |
The Stone Age |
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↑ before Homo (Pliocene) |
↓ Chalcolithic |
↑ before Homo (Pliocene)
Emiran culture was a culture that existed in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic periods.
Emiran culture apparently developed from the local Mousterian without rupture, keeping numerous elements of the Levalloise-Mousterian, together with the locally typical Emireh point. The Emireh point is the type tool of stage one of the Upper Paleolithic, first identified in the Emirian or Emireh culture. Numerous stone blade tools were used, including curved knives similar to those found in the Chatelperronian culture of Western Europe. Like the Chattelperronian, Elmireh is associated with late Neanderthal people rather than with Homo sapiens.
The Emirian eventually evolved into the Antelian culture, still of Levalloise tradition but with some Aurignacian influences.
According to Dorothy Garrod, the Emireh point, known from several sites in Israel, is the hallmark of this culture.