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Fossil Teeth Reveal a Lush Refuge Along Lebanon’s Coast

Male Persian fallow deer standing in Mediterranean woodland at Mount Carmel Nature Preserve
Research · Ecology

As climate shifted sharply around the eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon’s coast appears to have retained or regained habitats with reliable water and vegetation. Fossil herbivore teeth reveal woodland, scrub and open feeding areas during several periods between roughly 400,000 and 100,000 years ago.

Researchers examined 58 teeth from eight animal groups at Naame, Nahr Ibrahim and Ras el-Kelb. They interpret the findings as evidence that the coast served as an ecological refugium — a refuge where animals could find resources when other parts of the region faced greater drought or temperature stress.

Food and water leave traces in teeth

Tooth enamel preserves chemical traces of the food and water an animal consumed while its teeth were growing. The researchers measured ratios of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Carbon isotope ratios reveal information about the plants an animal ate, while oxygen isotopes offer clues to water sources and seasonal changes.

Taking samples at several points along a tooth allowed the team to follow changes through part of an animal’s life, revealing both diet and differences between seasons.

Animals fed in different parts of the landscape

The results pointed to vegetation dominated by C3 plants, a photosynthetic group that includes trees, shrubs and many temperate grasses. The findings fitted a mixture of woodland and scrub, rather than grasslands dominated by warm-climate C4 grasses.

Persian fallow deer, red deer and wild goats often fed in shaded understory vegetation. Aurochs, rhinoceroses and equids were more closely associated with open areas or mixed feeding environments. Naame showed the greatest variety, from denser woodland to more open scrub.

In wild goats and Persian fallow deer, the chemical traces also suggested greater use of shaded, moister places during warmer parts of the year. The landscape could therefore offer different animals food and shelter in different places, including during the summer heat.

Sea and mountains may have softened climatic extremes

The teeth generally recorded seasonal cycles resembling today’s Mediterranean climate, with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Ras el-Kelb pointed to somewhat cooler conditions and smaller seasonal contrasts than the other two sites.

The researchers suggest that the nearby Mediterranean and mountains helped preserve moist habitats. As humid air rises over mountains, it cools and can produce rainfall. Large changes in elevation over short distances also create varied local environments.

The region was not untouched by ice-age conditions. A much younger aurochs tooth from Naame, around 18,000 years old, indicated substantially colder and drier conditions. The collections provide snapshots of separate periods, rather than a continuous year-by-year history.

Water, vegetation and prey may also have made the coast a suitable place for ancient humans to live and travel. Lebanon lies along the connection between Africa and Eurasia. The researchers suggest that relatively predictable resources helped people use this route repeatedly.

Sources and image credit

  1. Long-term ecological stability in the Pleistocene central Levantine corridor revealed by enamel isotopes from LebanonOpen-access primary research article in Communications Earth & Environment 7, 705 (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-026-03925-x.

Image: Eyal Bartov — male Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) in Mount Carmel Nature Preserve, Israel, 17 August 2007; Wikimedia Commons; representative image of one of the herbivore taxa analysed in the study, not an animal from the archaeological assemblages. · CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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