Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh ("Cave of the Robbers"), also called as the "Skull Cave", is a prehistoric

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 ...

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. It is situated from the

Nahal Amud Nahal Amud (), also known as the Wadi al-Amud, is a stream in the Upper Galilee region of Israel that flows into the Sea of Galilee. History The source of the stream, Ramat Dalton, is located 800 meters above sea level. Its drainage basin inclu ...

outlet, approximately above the wadi bed ( below sea level). It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".

History

Discovered in 1925, the skull was the first fossilised

archaic human ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...

found in

Western Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

. Together with the remains found at

Es Skhul Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, 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 with the nearby ...

and the Wadi el-Mughara Caves, this find was classified in 1939 by

Arthur Keith Sir Arthur Keith FRS FRAI (5 February 1866 – 7 January 1955) was a British anatomist and anthropologist, and a proponent of scientific racism. He was a fellow and later the Hunterian Professor and conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the ...

and as ''Palaeoanthropus palestinensis''. Today its taxonomy is that of ''

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of ''Homo'' during the Middle Pleis ...

''. Zuttiyeh cave is at the opening of a limestone ravine where Nahal Amud turns eastward, above a smaller cave known as Mugharet el-Emireh (Cave of the Princess). The cave was excavated from 1925 to 1926 by

Francis Turville-Petre Francis Adrian Joseph Turville-Petre (4 March 1901 – 16 August 1942) was a British archaeologist, famous for the discovery of the ''Homo heidelbergensis'' fossil Galilee Man in 1926, and for his work at Mount Carmel, in what was then the Brit ...

. It was the first paleontological excavation in the region. Turville-Petre discovered a skull, referred to as the ''Galilee Skull'', that was initially described as the second

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 ...

-like specimen. It was originally attributed to a

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

stratum and is now thought to be from an earlier

Acheulo-Yabrudian complex The Acheulo-Yabrudian complex is a complex of archaeological cultures in the Levant at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic. It follows the Acheulian and precedes the Mousterian. It is also called the Mugharan Tradition or the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultur ...

. Later studies showed that the face was relatively flat, with no evidence of Neanderthal-like facial

prognathism Prognathism is a positional relationship of the mandible or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws protrudes beyond a predetermined imaginary line in the coronal plane of the skull. In the case of ''mandibular'' prognathism (nev ...

. The frontal bone and part of the upper face were found in the Mugharan level, which leads to an estimate of the age of the fossil to range from 200 to 500 kya. Similarities with

Zhoukoudian Zhoukoudian Area () is a town and an area located on the east Fangshan District, Beijing, China. It borders Nanjiao and Fozizhuang Townships to its north, Xiangyang, Chengguan and Yingfeng Subdistricts to its east, Shilou and Hangcunhe Towns to ...

remains suggest a possible ancestral relationship. The skull is housed in the

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), is an archaeology museum located in East Jerusalem, next to Herod's Gate, that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the exca ...

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

along with many other findings of Turville-Petre. A cast of the skull is on display at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

Gallery

Mugharet-el-Zuttiyeh-Hill.jpg, Hill of the Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh cave IMJ view 20130115 192522.jpg, A cast of the Galilee skull, Israel Museum

References

External links

What does it mean to be human?
* {{Navbox prehistoric caves Prehistoric sites in Israel Upper Galilee Caves of Israel

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links