Raqefet Cave (''Cyclamen Cave'') is a
Late Natufian archaeological site located in
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...
in the north of
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 ...
.
It was discovered in 1956. The site indicates plants were already used as food at Raqefet, before the advent of agriculture.
History
Remains in one of the chambers of the cave suggest the production of
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
during the occupation of the cave. The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation consists of 13,000-year-old residues of a beer with the consistency of
gruel
Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten. Historically, gruel has been a ...
, used by the semi-nomadic
Natufian
The Natufian culture () is a Late Epipaleolithic archaeological culture of the Levant, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction ...
s for ritual feasting, at the Raqefet Cave.
Earlier levels at Raqefet include remains from the
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 ...
.
Earlier
Mousterian
The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latt ...
remains were also found at Site 187.
In 2020,
incised slabs were discovered at Raqefet Cave, with a human figure most likely shown as dancing.
Gallery
Raqefet homo18.JPG, Human remains
Raqefet mortars.JPG, Rock mortars used to prepare malt for beer manufacture
File:Raqefet Cave rock mortars.jpg, Raqefet Cave rock mortars.
Raqefet view.JPG, View of the valley from inside the cave
See also
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History of beer
Beer is one of the oldest drinks humans have produced. The first chemically confirmed barley beer dates back to the 5th millennium BC in modern-day Iran, and was recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and spread throug ...
References
Bibliography
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{{prehistoric caves
Prehistoric sites in Israel
Natufian sites
1956 archaeological discoveries
Landforms of Northern District (Israel)
Caves of Israel
Mount Carmel
Levantine Aurignacian
Mousterian
11th millennium BC