Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, ar, السخول; meaning ''kid'', ''young goat'') or the Skhul Cave is a
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
cave site situated about south of the city of
Haifa,
Israel, and about from the
Mediterranean Sea.
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
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.
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
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
– and anatomically modern humans were present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago – around 100,000 years ago.
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 as ''Palaeoanthropus palestinensis'', a descendant of ''
Homo heidelbergensis''.
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
See also
* List of fossil sites (with link directory)
* List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)
* 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.
* Tabun Cave
* Qafzeh Cave
* Qesem cave
* Skhul and Qafzeh hominins
References
External links
*
Jewish Virtual Library
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
{{World Heritage Sites in Israel and Jerusalem
Archaeological sites in Israel
Prehistoric sites in Israel
Paleoanthropological sites
World Heritage Sites in Israel
Neanderthal sites
Caves of Israel