Prehistoric Exploration. It would appear to be an essential part of human nature to explore one's surroundings. As early as about 1.5 million years ago, tools belonging to the Oldowan tradition were being made by mankind's prehuman Homo erectus forebears. Originating in East Africa, these hominids migrated across Africa and then entered and spread across Asia and Europe. By about 500,000 years ago, tools of the Acheulian tradition had spread across Africa, Europe, and Asia as far east as India. Between circa 100,000 and circa 40,000 years ago, tools of the Mousterian tradition, made by Homo sapiens, were in use across the Old World.

Prehistoric Trade. Toward the end of the Paleolithic Period, following the end of the last Ice Age, bands of hunter-gatherers entered the Levant and Syria. The members of this Natufian culture settled in semipermanent villages, where they harvested local, naturally...