A Middle Pleistocene <i>Homo</i> from Nesher Ramla, Israel

<jats:title> Middle Pleistocene <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> in the Levant </jats:title> <jats:p> Our understanding of the origin, distribution, and evolution of early humans and their close relatives has been greatly refined by recent new information. Adding to this trend, Hershkovitz <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown archaic <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> population, the “Nesher Ramla <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> ” (see the Perspective by Mirazon Lahr). The authors present comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of fossilized remains from a site in Israel dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago indicating the presence of a previously unrecognized group of hominins representing the last surviving populations of Middle Pleistocene <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> in Europe, southwest Asia, and Africa. In a companion paper, Zaidner <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> present the radiometric ages, stone tool assemblages, faunal assemblages, and other behavioral and environmental data associated with these fossils. This evidence shows that these hominins had fully mastered technology that until only recently was linked to either <jats:italic>Homo sapiens</jats:italic> or Neanderthals. Nesher Ramla <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> was an efficient hunter of large and small game, used wood for fuel, cooked or roasted meat, and maintained fires. These findings provide archaeological support for cultural interactions between different human lineages during the Middle Paleolithic, suggesting that admixture between Middle Pleistocene <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>H. sapiens</jats:italic> had already occurred by this time. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , abh3169 and abh3020, this issue p. <jats:related-article issue="6549" page="1424" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="372">1424</jats:related-article> and p. <jats:related-article issue="6549" page="1429" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="372">1429</jats:related-article> ; see also abj3077, p. <jats:related-article issue="6549" page="1395" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="372">1395</jats:related-article> </jats:p>