Even after a century of research, the nature of the transition from the Lower-to-Middle Paleolithic in the Levant remains elusive. Responding to the sharp discontinuity in material culture, Jelinek argued that Unit X of Tabun Cave, Israel, can offer the bridgehead necessary to traverse the divide. His proposal was based on (1) the unit’s stratigraphic position and on (2) the unique combination of traits it embodied. However, this interpretation of Unit X was later dismissed and the combination of features attributed to post-depositional mixture. In this paper, we revisit these arguments and analyze Layer J72S of Unit X. We address two major obstacles to our understanding of the Lower-to-Middle Paleolithic transition. The first is our poor understanding of the Acheulian facies of the Acheulo-Yabrudian and its implications for technological variation and settlement dynamics. The second obstacle is the insufficient attention to temporal trends that span the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. Our analysis demonstrates that the Acheulo-Yabrudian assemblages within the cave, including J72S, represent but a fraction of an extensive array of practices distributed across the landscape. We also document trends toward greater affinity with the Middle Paleolithic. Although of limited scope, these trends could suggest that the Lower-to-Middle Paleolithic shift is not a process of displacement but a synthesis of “old” and “new” technological concepts. An exchange of ideas and genes among not-so-distantly-related hominins may have played a much greater role in shaping the Paleolithic than has been hitherto recognized.

即使经过一个世纪的研究，黎凡特从下旧石器时代到中旧石器时代的过渡本质仍然难以捉摸。针对物质文化的急剧不连续性，杰利内克（Jerinek）辩称，以色列塔邦洞穴（Tabun Cave）的X单元可以提供跨越鸿沟所必需的桥头堡。他的建议基于（1）单位的地层位置和（2）所体现特征的独特组合。但是，对X单元的这种解释后来被驳回，并且将特征组合归因于沉积后混合。在本文中，我们将重新审视这些论点并分析X单元的J72S层。我们解决了两个主要障碍，阻碍了我们对中下旧石器时代过渡的理解。首先是我们对阿契洛-亚布鲁底山脉的阿契洛相及其对技术变化和沉降动态的影响的了解不多。第二个障碍是对旧石器时代中期和中期的时间趋势的关注不足。我们的分析表明，洞穴内的Acheulo-Yabrudian组合（包括J72S）仅代表分布在整个景观中的各种实践的一小部分。我们还记录了与旧石器时代的亲和力增强的趋势。尽管范围有限，但这些趋势可能表明，旧石器时代下至中部的转变不是位移的过程，而是“旧”和“新”技术概念的综合。