Preface; Acknowledgements; Acknowledgements for permissions to reproduce data and photographs;Introduction: The singularity of the Jordan Rift Valley;History of ideas and research;The Jordan Rift Valley at present;The pre-neogene geology of the near East;The lithostratigraphy of the Embryonic and Eritrean stages;Palynostratigraphy, continuous sequences and unconformities;Chronostratigraphy, paleogeography and environments of the Embryonic and Eritrean stages;Geophysics;Structural history;Tectonics: Models and debates;Stratigraphy of the artefact-bearing sequences;Paleoecology of man;Appendix: The nature and history of motion along the Dead Sea Transform (Rift); References; References Index; Subject Index.