El Wad is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

of the

Epipalaeolithic Near East The Epipalaeolithic Near East designates the Epipalaeolithic ("Final Old Stone Age") in the History of the Middle East#Prehistoric Near East, prehistory of the Near East. It is the period after the Upper Paleolithic, Upper Palaeolithic and befor ...

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

, Israel. The site has two components: El Wad Cave, also known as Mughārat al-Wād () or HaNahal Cave (); and El Wad Terrace, located immediately outside the cave. Together with the nearby sites of

Tabun Cave The Tabun Cave is an excavated site located at Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve, Israel and is one of the Human Evolution sites at Mount Carmel, which were proclaimed as having universal value by UNESCO in 2012. History Together with the nearby ...

, Jamal Cave, and

Skhul Cave Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, Hebrew language, Hebrew: מערת סחול; ; meaning ''kid'', ''young goat'') or the Skhul Cave is a prehistoric cave site situated about south of the city of Haifa, Israel, and about from the Mediterranean Sea. Together ...

, el Wad is part of the

Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve The Caves of Nahal Me’arot / Wadi el-Mughara ("Caves Creek"), named here by the Hebrew and Arabic name of the valley where they are located, are a UNESCO Site of Human Evolution in the Carmel mountain range near Haifa in northern Israel.

, a national park and

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Background and research history

Telegram of Charles Lambert that announed the discovery of a first prehistoric art object in Cave of Nahal Mearot

El Wad is one of a number of significant prehistoric archaeological sites in the caves of Wadi el-Mughara in

, now protected as the national nature reserve and

. However in the 1920s, very little was known of the prehistory of the region, and the sites were threatened by quarrying for the construction of the

Port of Haifa The Port of Haifa ('';'' ) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. Its natural deep-water harbor operates all year long and serves both passenger and merchant shi ...

. In 1928, British archaeologist Charles Lambert conducted a trial excavation at El Wad on behalf of the

Department of Antiquities of Mandatory Palestine The Department of Antiquities was a department of the British administration of Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1948 that was in charge of the protection and investigation of archaeological remains and artefacts in Palestine. Operation In Decem ...

to assess the area's archaeological value. Lambert's findings, especially the "sensational" discovery of a bone handle carved in the shape of an animal, "the first prehistoric work of art recorded from the Near East", established the scientific importance of the caves and prevented them being destroyed in the quarrying. The following year, the Department of Antiquities asked

Dorothy Garrod Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, CBE, FBA (5 May 1892 – 18 December 1968) was an English archaeologist who specialised in the Palaeolithic period. She held the position of Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1 ...

to suspend her excavations at Shuqba cave to deal with the "urgent matter" of investigating the el-Mughara caves. Garrod directed large-scale excavations at El Wad for the next six years. She quickly recognised similarities between the stone tools found at El Wad and her previous excavations at Shuqba cave, naming the newly discovered

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

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 ...

, after

Wadi en-Natuf Wadi Natuf (Arabic: وادي الناطوف, ''Wadi al-Natuf'' / ''Wadi en-Natuf'') or Nahal Natuf () is a wadi (seasonal stream) in the West Bank and Israel, rising in the north of the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of Palestine, crossing in ...

near Shuqba, and tentatively linking it to the European

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

, based on the fact that both used

microlithic technology Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a cr ...

. Garrod began her excavations with Lambert's soundings and extended them cover most of the interior of the cave and exterior terrace. Excavating Natufian strucutre at el-Wad Terrace

Excavating Natufian strucutre at el-Wad Terrace

In 1980-1981,

François Valla François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 16 ...

and

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 ...

conducted brief excavations on the terrace to re-examine Garrod's

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

. In 1988–1989,

Mina Weinstein-Evron Mina Weinstein-Evron (Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was nativel ...

excavated a small area at the back of the cave that had not been removed by Garrod. Large-scale excavations of the terrace resumed in 1994, directed by Weinstein-Evron, Daniel Kaufman, and

Reuven Yeshurun Reuben or Reuven (, Standard ''Rəʾūven'', Tiberian ''Rŭʾūḇēn'') was the first of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's oldest son), according to the Book of Genesis. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Reuben. Etymology Th ...

of the

Zinman Institute of Archaeology The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an indepen ...

, and are ongoing.

References

External links

A Pioneer of Prehistory: Dorothy Garrod and the Caves of Mount Carmel
photo exhibition at the

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Israel Natufian sites Caves of Israel Mount Carmel Bone carvings Prehistoric sites in Israel

Background and research history

References

Further reading

External links