Finding of trout (Salmo cf. trutta) in the Northern Jordan Valley (Israel) at the end of the Pleistocene: Preliminary results

Tens of thousands of fish bones were recovered from the Final Natufian (Late Epipaleolithic) layer of the site of Eynan/Ain Mallaha (Northern Israel) dated to the end of the Pleistocene. Almost a hundred of them were attributed to a Salmoninae, most probably a trout Salmo cf. trutta. This is the southernmost attestation of a Salmo species in the Near East, past and present. It is suggested that trout were present locally as small populations at least at the end of the Pleistocene.