The slopes of Mount Carmel near the modern town of Haifa, Israel contain four of the most famous Neanderthal sites in the middle east, including es Skhul , et Tabun, el Wad and et Jaml.
Archaeological Investigations at Mount Carmel
In the early decades of the 20th century, archaeologist Dorothy Garrod spent nearly two years excavating in this location. Early excavations were focused on the archaeology and hominid remains; more recently, investigations as to climatic change at Mount Carmel have brought to light the effect of fluctuating ocean levels.
Excavations at some of the smaller lesser known caves (Jabal, el-Wad and Mislaya) were conducted during the late 20th century, after a variety of geophysical investigations revealed the presence of previously unidentified archaeological components.
Sources
Mount Carmel is a part of the About.com Guides to the Natufian, and Neanderthals, as well as part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
Bocquentin, Fanny and Ofer Bar-Yosef 2004 Early Natufian remains: evidence for physical conflict from Mt. Carmel, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 47:19-23.
Vita-Finzi, Carlo and Chris Stringer. 2007. The setting of the Mt. Carmel caves reassessed. Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 436–440.
Weinstein-Evron, Mina, Alex Beck, and Michael Ezersky 2003 Geophysical investigations in the service of Mount Carmel (Israel) prehistoric research. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:1331–1341.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
