Manot Cave ( ''Me'arat Manot'') is a cave in
Western Galilee
Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galile ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, discovered in 2008.
It is notable for the discovery of a
skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
that belongs to a
modern human
Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extin ...
, called
Manot 1, which is estimated to be 54,700 years old (U–Th dating of the calcitic crust on the Manot 1 calvaria and of speleothems in the cave). The partial skull was discovered at the beginning of the cave's exploration in 2008. Its significance was realised after detailed scientific analysis, and was first published in an online edition of ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' on 28 January 2015.
This age implies that the specimen is the oldest known human outside Africa, and is evidence that modern humans lived side-by-side with
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
s.
The cave is also noted for its "impressive archaeological record of flint and bone artefacts".
Geologically, it is an "active
stalactite
A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via
''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...
cave".
Discovery
![MANOT_CAVE_SPELEOTHEM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/MANOT_CAVE_SPELEOTHEM.JPG)
Manot Cave is situated in Western Galilee, about 10 km north of
HaYonim Cave and 50 km northeast of Mt. Carmel. It was discovered accidentally during a construction work in 2008 when a
bulldozer
A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...
struck open its roof. Experts from the Cave Research Unit of
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
immediately made the initial survey. Important finds were stone tools, charcoal pieces, and human remains. The tools consisted of a
Levallois point,
burins,
bladelets, overpassed blades, and
Aurignacian tools such as nosed and carinated endscrapers. There were also remains of "
fallow deer
''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.
Name
The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes, ...
,
red deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
,
mountain gazelle
The mountain gazelle (''Gazella gazella''), also called the Palestine mountain gazelle, is a species of gazelle widely but unevenly distributed.
Description
Mountain gazelle are one of the few mammals in which both sexes have horns. Males ha ...
, horse,
aurochs
The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocen ...
,
hyena
Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...
, and bear".
[ The major find was an almost complete human skull. The finds were reported to the ]Israel Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...
(IAA), which granted another survey. Ofer Marder and H. Khalaily made the survey and found that it was a rich archaeological site. Recognising its importance, the IAA granted a full-scale excavation in 2010. For three weeks the site was excavated by a collaboration of archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
, Geological Survey of Israel, Zinman Institute of Archaeology of University of Haifa
The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...
, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Sciences of Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...
, and the Department of Archaeology of Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
.[
]
Description
The Manot Cave consists of a lengthy hall, 80 m long and between 10m and 25m wide. Two lower chambers are connected to it from north and south. It is possible that the main entrances were at both the eastern and western ends. The cave has active stalagmite
A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling")
is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...
formations. Archaeological remains indicate that the most recent artifacts belong to the Early Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
period. This further indicates that the cave had been completely sealed for at least 15,000 years. The blockage was probably due to rock falls and active stalagmites at the main entrances.[
]
Chronology
Archaeologists have offered the following chronology for the cave, based on radiocarbon dating: an Early Ahmarian
The Ahmarian culture was a Paleolithic archeological industry in Levant dated at 46,000–42,000 BP and thought to be related to Levantine Emiran and younger European Aurignacian cultures.
The word “Ahmarian” was adopted from the archaeol ...
phase (46,000–42,000 BP), a Levantine Aurignacian
The Levantine Aurignacian (35,000-29,000 BP, calibrated, 32,000-26,000 BP, non-calibrated) is an Upper Paleolithic culture of the Near-Eastern Levant that evolved from the Emiran culture. It was named so because of the similarity of stone tools w ...
phase (38,000–34,000 BP), and a post-Levantine Aurignacian phase (34,000–33,000 BP).
Significance in human evolution
The most important find in the cave is a partial skullcap
Skullcap or skull cap usually refers to various types of headgear. Specifically it may refer to:
Headwear
* Beanie (seamed cap)
* Biretta, forming part of some clerical, academic or legal dress
* Calotte (Belgium), a skullcap worn by students at ...
of a modern human, referred to by archaeologists as Manot 1. The specimen is estimated (using uranium–thorium dating
Uranium–thorium dating, also called thorium-230 dating, uranium-series disequilibrium dating or uranium-series dating, is a radiometric dating technique established in the 1960s which has been used since the 1970s to determine the age of calciu ...
) to be 54,700 years old.[ It shows that modern humans lived together with another human species, the Neanderthals, in the ]Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
. This could support the notion that these two species had interbred, as evidenced by genome sequencing
Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...
.
See also
* Kebara Cave
Kebara Cave ( he, מערת כבארה, Me'arat Kebbara, ar, مغارة الكبارة, Mugharat al-Kabara) is a limestone cave locality in Wadi Kebara, situated at above mean sea level, above sea level on the western escarpment of the Mount Car ...
* Ksar Akil
Ksar Akil (also Ksar 'Akil or Ksar Aqil) is an archeological site northeast of Beirut in Lebanon. It is located about west of Antelias spring on the north bank of the northern tributary of the Wadi Antelias. It is a large rock shelter below ...
References
{{Authority control
2008 archaeological discoveries
Caves of Israel
Archaeological sites in Israel
Human evolution
Recent African origin of modern humans
Prehistoric sites in Israel
Neanderthal sites
Levantine Aurignacian