ABSTRACT
Chronologically successive cultures and empires have partially erased yet partially preserved preceding patterns, creating by this long development a marvelous geographical palimpsest. This chapter considers this sequential development, its traces in the modern Middle East, and its significant impact on contemporary human and political affairs, which deals with the historicalpolitical geography of the region. Primitive Paleolithic human groups were environmentally bound to sites that offered fresh water, easily gathered food, and natural shelters, especially caves. Particularly favorable sites were found in the western and eastern limbs of the Fertile Crescent and adjacent areas of the Anatolian Plateau. Climatic changes that caused the northward retreat of the last ice sheets in Eurasia beginning about 15,000 years ago also modified the ecology of the Middle East. However, of all the ancient Middle East civilizations and empires outside Mesopotamia, none could match the fabled culture of the Nile, the Pharaonic kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.
