Qesem Cave is a karst cave located about 12 kilometers in from the Mediterranean coast and near Tel Aviv, and it is one of a handful of sites in Israel and Syria that are dated to the transitional period between the late Lower Paleolithic and the early Middle Paleolithic. Dating between ~225,000 and 400,000 years ago, these sites -- Tabun, Jamal and Zuttiyeh in Israel and Yabrud I and Hummal in Syria -- share a common stone tool assemblage, that scholars call the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex, or AYCC for short. Very few fragmentary hominid remains have been recovered from AYCC sites. The largest piece is most of a face from the Zuttiyeh site. The paper in the upcoming AJPA article describes eight teeth.
The teeth and the other fragmentary remains are, to a certain extent, puzzling. Qesem Cave researchers describing the teeth from the cave noted some similarities to both Neanderthal and early modern human, but they were convinced that these teeth represent early modern human. The Zuttiyeh face has a similarly complex situation: some scholars believe that face is neanderthal, others early modern human, others something else.
The Lower Paleolithic/Middle Paleolithic transition in the Levant is of intense interest to paleontologists investigating the origins of modern humans. During that time, Homo erectus was replaced by both Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans (EMH): if the researchers are right, and the teeth represent EMH, Qesem would be the earliest identification of early modern humans in the Levant--in fact, the earliest identification of early modern humans anywhere.
Sources
Hershkovitz I, Smith P, Sarig R, Quam R, Rodríguez L, García R, Arsuaga JL, Barkai R, and Gopher A. 2010. Middle pleistocene dental remains from Qesem Cave (Israel). American Journal of Physical Anthropology:n/a-n/a.
See the Bibliography for additional sources.
- Qesem Cave, Israel
- Guide to the Middle Paleolithic
- Guide to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex
- Guide to the Lower Paleolithic
- Guide to Neanderthals
- Early Modern Humans
See the Qesem Cave Project pages for additional information
The Smithsonian Institution has a photograph of the Zuttiyeh face on its website.
