Skhul Cave

Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, Arabic: السخول; meaning kid, young goat) or the Skhul Cave is a prehistoric cave site situated about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) south of the city of Haifa, Israel, and about 3 km (1.9 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea.

Skhul cave
Skhul cave
Skhul cave, Mount Carmel, Israel
Skhul cave
Skhul cave
location in Israel
Alternative nameEs-Skhul
Mugharet-es-Skhul
Locationsouth of the city of Haifa
RegionIsrael
Coordinates32°40′14.4″N 34°57′58.1″E
History
PeriodsPalaeolithic
CulturesNatufian
Site notes
Excavation dates1928
ArchaeologistsDorothy Garrod

Together with the nearby sites of Tabun Cave, Jamal cave, and the cave at El Wad, Skhul is part of the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve,[1] a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.[2]

The site was first excavated by Dorothy Garrod during summer of 1929. Several human skeletons were found in the cave, belonging to an ancient species of Homo sapiens. Both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans were present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago.[3]

The remains found at es-Skhul, together with those found at the other caves of Wadi el-Mughara and Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, were classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and Theodore D. McCown as Palaeoanthropus palestinensis, a descendant of Homo heidelbergensis.[4][5][6]

See also

References
  1. "Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve". National Parks and Nature Reserves. Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  2. "Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: The Nahal Me'arot / Wadi el-Mughara Caves". World Heritage List. UNESCO. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  3. Olson, S. Mapping Human History. Houghton Mifflin, New York (2003). p. 74–75.
  4. The Palaeolithic Origins of Human Burial, Paul Pettitt, 2013, p. 59
  5. Human Adaptation in the Asian Palaeolithic: Hominin Dispersal and Behaviour during the Late Quaternary, Ryan J. Rabett, 2012, p. 90
  6. The stone age of Mount Carmel : report of the Joint Expedition of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and the American School of Prehistoric Research, 1929–1934, p. 18
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