2) Prof. Nimrod Marom

We investigated the macrostructure and pore morphology of ostrich eggshells to evaluate their potential as indicators of past ostrich taxonomy and paleoenvironmental conditions in the southern Levant. To this end, we compared pore patterns from all extant ostrich species with those observed on eggshell fragments recovered from 20 archaeological sites in Israel, spanning from the early Late Pleistocene to the late Holocene. Our analysis revealed a shift in pore pattern, which we interpret as evidence of a species turnover around 100,000 years ago—from a pattern resembling that of the extant Somali ostrich to one characteristic of the now-extinct Syrian ostrich. This interpretation is supported by ecological niche models, which suggest that suitable habitats for the Somali ostrich existed in the southern Levant prior to ~100 kya, but became increasingly scarce thereafter. We propose that this species turnover coincided with climatic changes, possibly during interglacial phases that facilitated the movement of species via an open biogeographic corridor connecting Africa and the Levant. These phases were marked by summer precipitation, a climatic condition identified by our models as critical for the Somali ostrich. Our findings highlight the utility of ostrich eggshells as a taxonomic and paleoenvironmental archive for the southern Levant, with broader implications for other regions.