Neve David excavation- gazelle horn exposed

Neve David is an

Epipalaeolithic 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 ...

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 ...

located at the foot of the western slope of the

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 ...

hills in northern Israel. It was inhabited in the later part of the Middle Epipalaeolithic, about 15,000–13,000 BC. Today, the Neve David site is just about from the Mediterranean coastline, but in the final

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, it was from the shore, overlooking a broad coastal plain. It was thus situated at an

ecotone An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...

, the boundary between two contrasting ecological zones, with the seasonally dry valleys of the Mount Carmel limestone massif to its east, and the Mediterranean coastal plain to its west. Such locations with access to two complementing ecological resources were favoured by many Epipaleolithic and

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 ...

communities.

Settlement

At c. 1000 square meters, Neve David was one of the larger settlements of its time, and the thickness of its archaeological deposit layer of about indicates that it was occupied repeatedly over a long period. Being an open-air site, the good preservation of its remains implies the implementation of solid structures of soil and clay. It yielded large quantities of ground-stone implements, most made of local limestone, but some also of black basalt brought there from some distance. The faunal remains found at Neve David comprised 15 mammal species, two reptile species and seven genera of molluscs. Bone fractures, cut marks and burned bones reflect human activity. The major prey species were gazelle and fallow deer (60% and 30%, respectively), comparable to many other Epipalaeolithic sites from Israel.

Cultural traits

Two burials have been found at the Neve David site. One of these contained the remains of a 23- to 30-year-old male, who was interred in a grave pit lined with stone slabs. Over his head, a stone mortar was placed upside-down, and a part of a broken basalt bowl was found behind his neck. Between his thighs, pieces of a flat basalt grinding slab were laid. The careful construction of the grave and the grave offerings presage later

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 ...

burials. The inhabitants of Neve David were still hunter-gatherers, no signs of agriculture or animal domestication have been found there.

References

*Chris Scarre (ed.): The Human Past, Thames & Hudson 2005, p. 205 *Guy Bar-Oz, Tamar Dayan and Daniel Kaufman: The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Israel: A View from Neve David. Journal of Archaeological Science (1999) 26, p. 67–82

External links

The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Israel: A View from Neve David (PDF)
{{Epipalaeolithic Southwest Asia Archaeological sites in Israel Former populated places in Israel Mount Carmel Epipalaeolithic