1.1 Out of Africa through the Levantine corridor The widely accepted ‘Out-of-Africa’ hypothesis considers northeastern Africa as the cradle of humankind, based on early archaeological evidence, (e.g., Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001; Templeton, 2002). The earliest evidence for hominin activity was found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Amongst these findings were remnants of Oldowan and Acheulian stone tools, remnants of animals and remains of hominins in sites dated to the Pliocene (>1.8 Ma)(e.g., Semaw, 2000). Hominin remains outside Africa are dated to the Pleistocene and Holocene periods, from ~1.8 Ma to present. Remains were found in sites spanning from northeast Africa to the Far East (Carto et al., 2009; Stringer, 2000). The Levantine corridor (Fig. 1), is a narrow land bridge connecting Africa with eastern Europe, central Asia, India and the Far East. It extends along the land area of the Sinai plate, between the Dead Sea fault and the Mediterranean continental margin. This corridor is considered to be one of the main pathways of hominin dispersal due to the discovery of some of the oldest prehistoric remains outside of Africa (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001). Erk-el-Ahmar (1.96-1.78 Ma) is located in the central part of the Dead Sea Fault and reflects the first of three recognized dispersal pulses (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001). At this site, the earliest hominin related flint artifacts were found outside of Africa (Braun et al., 1991; Horowitz, 2001) (Fig. 2). The next pulse is indicated in Ubediya, ~1.4 Ma (Tchernov, 1987; Klein, 1989) where a rich complex of hominin and fauna remains was found. This complex represents numerous returns to the same location close to a lake. Acheulian artifacts of Ubediya are very similar to those found in contemporary assemblages of Upper Bed II of Olduvai Gorge (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001). The third pulse is represented by the mid-Acheulian site of Gesher Benot-Ya’aqov (Goren-Inbar et al., 2000) (0.78 Ma) and Ruhama (Laukhin et al., 2001) (0.99-0.85 Ma). Dispersal routes of hominins to the rest of the world have been hypothesized based on archaeological evidence (Bar-Yosef and Belfer-Cohen, 2001)(Fig. 1). Reproduction of a species in a closed area limits the population growth and hence, given the right environment, this species will tend to quickly expand into the newly accessible area. Therefore, both physiographic modifications and their timing are crucial for the onset of dispersal.