Anna Belfer-Cohen (; born November 3, 1949) is an Israeli
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
and
paleoanthropologist
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and biological anthropology, anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as wikt:hominization, hominization, throug ...
and
Professor Emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
...
at the Institute of Archaeology, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
. Belfer-Cohen excavated and studied many important
prehistoric
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
sites in Israel including
Hayonim
HaYonim Cave () is a cave located in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level, in the Upper Galilee, Israel.
History
The site had substantial occupation during the Middle Paleolithic Mousterian period, from 250,000 years ago to ...
and
Kebara Cave
Kebara Cave (, ) is a limestone cave locality in Wadi Kebara, situated at above sea level on the western escarpment of the Carmel Range, in the Ramat HaNadiv preserve of Zichron Yaakov.
History
The cave was inhabited between 60,000 and 48,0 ...
s and open-air sites such as
Nahal Ein Gev I
Nahal () (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training in entrepr ...
and
II and
Nahal Neqarot. She has also worked for many years in the Republic of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, where she made important contributions to the study of the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
sequence of the Caucasus following her work at the cave sites of Dzoudzuana, Kotias and Satsrublia. She is a specialist in
biological Anthropology
Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly fro ...
,
prehistoric art
In the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate, Prehistory, prehistorical cultures beginning somewhere in very late geological history, and generally continuing until that culture either develops writing or other met ...
,
lithic technology
In archaeology, lithic technology includes a broad array of techniques used to produce usable tools from various types of stone. The earliest stone tools to date have been found at the site of Lomekwi 3 (LOM3) in Kenya and they have been dated to ...
, the
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...
and modern humans, the
Natufian
The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even befor ...
-
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
interface and the transition to village life.
Belfer-Cohen has published hundreds of papers and co-edited several books. Her work is widely cited in the field of Prehistoric Archaeology and especially the Natufian culture.
Belfer-Cohen is married with two children and four grandchildren and currently resides in Jerusalem.
Early life and education

Anna Belfer-Cohen was born in
Rivne
Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast. ,
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
in 1949 to Halina (Ala) and Yehuda Belfer. The family
immigrated to Israel in 1956. After completing high school in her home town Petah Tikva, she began studying toward her first degree in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she also earned her MA (1981) and PhD (1988). Already in her undergraduate studies she participated in many archaeological expeditions in Israel, Cyprus and Sinai. Belfer-Cohen's PhD dissertation (supervised by Professor
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Ofer Bar-Yosef (; 29 August 1937 – 14 March 2020) was an Israeli archaeologist and anthropologist whose main field of study was the Palaeolithic period. Archaeology and academic career
From 1967 Bar-Yosef was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology ...
) was dedicated to the
Natufian culture
The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even befor ...
.
She was appointed full professor at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 2002. From 2005–2009, she served as the head of the university's Institute of Archaeology. From 2014 to 2018 she was the head of the Authority for Research Students (non-experimental Sciences).
Scientific contributions
Early in her career, Belfer-Cohen participated in excavations at the
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...
site of
‘Ubeiydia in the Jordan Valley (the oldest site in Israel), at
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...
and
Epipaleolithic
In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are someti ...
prehistoric sites in the northern
Sinai Desert
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
, at the burial sites from the
Chalcolithic
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...
age and
Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
in the southern Sinai.
During her MA studies, Belfer-Cohen analyzed the lithics and bone tools from the
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian () is an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with Cro-Magnon, Early European modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the L ...
layer at Hayonim cave (dated to 35,000 years ago). In her work she identified the Levantine Aurignacian and its uniqueness in the Upper Paleolithic sequence in the area. Through the years she helped understanding the interactions of this
hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
culture with its European counterpart.
In her PhD Belfer-Cohen discussed the technological and spatial aspects of the Natufian material remains from Hayonim Cave in the Galilee, including architecture, burials, lithic assemblages, ground-stone tools and personal ornaments. In this work she provided the basis for the modern study of the Natufian culture and shaped the important research questions, which are still employed by the current research.
Belfer-Cohen took part in many archaeological projects, some that lasted several decades, such as Kebara and Hayonim caves, where she was involved in the study and publication of the findings. Selected recent research projects and contributions include:
* The First Cemeteries – The nature and meaning of Burial practices in the Natufian Society. Cultural Complexity on the eve of the transition to agriculture. Studies of skeletal material as well as material finds from the sites of Hayonim and
Hilazon Tachtit caves jointly with Prof. Leore Grosman (Hebrew University).
* Reconstruction of the Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic sequence of Georgia, the southern Caucasus. This is a joint Georgian-USA-Israeli project directed by her on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in collaboration with Dr. Tengis Meshviliani, Georgia State Museum and Prof. Ofer Bar-Yosef from Harvard University. In this project the team established the chronology of the local Upper Paleolithic, with the arrival of ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
'', and their local adjustment as compared to the
Neanderthal
Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...
s of the preceding
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...
. The project includes excavations at Dzudzuana cave, 1996-2001; 2006–7. Another central question in the project was aimed at establishing whether the transformation from
hunter-gatherers
A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, especially w ...
unto agriculturalists wan an endemic innovation, acculturation of ideas from elsewhere, or the result of invasions of foreign groups. This entailed excavations at the Kotias Klde rockshelter in 2002-2005; 2008–2010. Currently the team excavates at Satsurblia Cave (2010- to present), with Prof. Ron Pinhasi (Vienna University).
[Pinhasi, R. et al. (2014). Satsurblia: new insights of human response and survival across the Last Glacial Maximum in the southern Caucasus. PLOS One, 9(10), e111271.]
Selected publications
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* Belfer-Cohen, A. and E. Hovers 199
Burial is in the Eye of the Beholder: Middle Palaeolithic and Natufian Burials in the Levant Current Anthropology 33: 463–71.
* Belfer-Cohen, A. and N. Goren-Inbar 199
Cognition and Communication in the Levantine Lower Palaeolithic World Archaeology 26(2):144-157.
* Arensburg, B. and A. Belfer-Cohen 1998 “Sapiens and Neanderthals: Rethinking the Levantine Middle Paleolithic Hominids”. In: Neanderthals and Modern Humans in West Asia, eds. T. Akazawa, K. Aoki and O. Bar-Yosef, pp. 311–322. New-York: Plenum Press.
* Belfer-Cohen, A. and O. Bar-Yosef 2000 Early Sedentism in the Near East - A Bumpy Ride to Village Life”. In: Life in Neolithic Farming Communities. Social Organization, Identity, and Differentiation, ed. I. Kuijt, pp. 19–37. New-York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
* Belfer-Cohen, A. and A. N. Goring-Morris 2002 “Why Microliths? Microlithisation in the Levant”. In: Thinking Small: Global Perspectives on Microlithization, eds. R. G. Elston and S.L. Kuhn, pp. 57–68. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association.
* Goring-Morris, N. and A. Belfer-Coehn. 2003. More Than Meets the Eye. Studies on Upper Palaeolithic Diversity in the Near East, Oxford: Oxbow Books.
* Meshveliani, T., O. Bar-Yosef and A. Belfer-Cohen 2004 “The Upper Palaeolithic in Western Georgia”. In: The Early Upper Paleolithic Beyond Western Europe, eds. P. J. Brantingham, S. L. Kuhn and K. W. Kerry, pp. 129–143. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* Hovers E. and A. Belfer-Cohen 2006 "Now You See it, Now You Don’t" - Modern Human Behavior in the Middle Paleolithic. In: Transitions Before The Transition. Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, eds. E. Hovers and S. L. Kuhn, pp. 295–304. New York: Springer.
* Belfer-Cohen, A. and A. N. Goring-Morris 2007. "From the Beginning: Levantine Upper Palaeolithic Cultural Continuity". In: Rethinking the Human Revolution, eds. P. Mellars, K. Boyle, O. Bar-Yosef and C. Stringer, pp. 199–206. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge.
* Goring-Morris, A. N., and A. Belfer-Cohen 2010. "Different Ways of Being, Different Ways of Seeing... Changing Worldviews in the Near East". In: Landscapes in Transition: Understanding Hunter-Gatherer and Farming Landscapes in the Early Holocene of Europe and the Levant, eds. B. Finlayson and G. Warren, pp. 9–22. London: Levant Supplementary Series & CBRL.
* Belfer-Cohen, A. and A. N. Goring-Morris 2013. Breaking the Mold: Phases and Facies in the Natufian of the Mediterranean Zone. In: Natufian Foragers in the Levant. Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia. Eds.O. Bar-Yosef and F.R. Valla. Pp. 544–561. Archaeological Series 19. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory.
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See also
*
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Ofer Bar-Yosef (; 29 August 1937 – 14 March 2020) was an Israeli archaeologist and anthropologist whose main field of study was the Palaeolithic period. Archaeology and academic career
From 1967 Bar-Yosef was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology ...
*
Nigel Goring-Morris
Adrian Nigel Goring-Morris is a United Kingdom, British-born archaeologist and a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Biography
Adrian Nigel Goring-Morris completed his PhD at the Hebrew University in 1986. He is known for his discove ...
References
External links
Anna Belfer-Cohen's page at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfer-Cohen, Anna
1949 births
Living people
People from Petah Tikva
20th-century Israeli archaeologists
21st-century Israeli archaeologists
20th-century Israeli women scientists
20th-century Israeli scientists
21st-century Israeli women scientists
Israeli women archaeologists
Archaeologists of the Near East
Israeli prehistorians
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Natufian culture
Ukrainian emigrants to Israel