Ksar Akil, ten kilometers northeast of Beirut in Lebanon, is believed to be one of the earliest known archaeological sites containing Upper Paleolithic technologies, including the Aurignacian.
Artifacts recovered from the site include shells with holes and chipped edge modifications that are suggested to have been used as pendants or beads.
These indicate that the inhabitants were among the first in Western Eurasia to use personal ornaments.
Results from radiocarbon dating indicate that the early humans may have lived at the site approximately forty-five thousand years ago or earlier.
The presence of personal ornaments at Ksar 'Akil is suggestive of modern human behavior.
The findings of ornaments at the site are contemporaneous with ornaments found at Late Stone Age sites such as Enkapune ya muto in present Kenya.
