'Ubeidiya ( ar, العبيدية, `Ubaydiyya; he, עובידיה), some 3 km south of the
Sea of Galilee, in the
Jordan Rift Valley
The Jordan Rift Valley, also Jordan Valley ''Bīrʿāt haYardēn'', ar, الغور Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr),, date=November 2022 also called the Syro-African Depression, is an elongated depression located in modern-day Israel, and Jordan. This g ...
,
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 ...
, is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
of the early
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
,
years ago, preserving traces of one of the
earliest migrations of ''
Homo erectus''
out of Africa
''Out of Africa'' is a memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on ...
, with (as of 2014) only the site of
Dmanisi
Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , az, Başkeçid) is a town and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera. The hominin ...
in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
being older. The site yielded
hand axe
A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or ch ...
s of the
Acheulean
Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...
type, but very few human remains.
The animal remains include a hippopotamus' femur bone, and an immensely large pair of horns belonging to a species of extinct
bovid
The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, ...
.
The site was discovered in 1959 and was first excavated between 1960 and 1974.
The site is distinct from nearby Tell Ubeidiya.
Etymology
![Ubeidiya village boundaries and location of prehistoric site](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Ubeidiya_village_boundaries_and_location_of_prehistoric_site.png)
The prehistoric site is named for the historical Palestinian village of
Ubeidiya, which was centered on Tell 'Ubeidiya.
The name Ubeidiya comes from the Arabic word ''
obeid'', meaning "little slave", while a connection with the biblical name Obadiah cannot be ruled out.
''
Abeed Abeed or abīd (, plural of ʿabd, ), is an Arabic word meaning "servant" or "slave". The term is used sometimes in the Arab world as an ethnic slur for Black people, and dates back to the Arab slave trade. In recent decades, usage of the word has b ...
'' is the Arabic word for slave.
Location
'Ubeidiya is located between the village
Menahemia and Kibbutz
Beit Zera, one kilometer northwest of the latter.
The prehistoric remains were found at a site distinct from the archaeological mound (
tell) known as Tell 'Ubeidiya, some 400 metres northwest of the tell.
Excavation history
The prehistoric site was discovered in May 1959 near the tell, south of the
Yavne'el stream (Wadi Fidjdjas), by a member of Kibbutz
Afikim
Afikim () is an Israeli kibbutz affiliated with the Kibbutz Movement located in the Jordan Valley three kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. It is within the jurisdiction of the Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In it had a population of .
Ety ...
who was levelling the ground for agriculture with a
bulldozer. Excavations at the site began in 1960, led by
Moshe Stekelis
Moshe Stekelis (1898 – 14 March 1967) was a Russian born archaeologist who excavated the Neolithic Yarmukian culture at Sha'ar HaGolan.
He was born in Kamenets-Podolski in the Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) a ...
, assisted by zoologist
Georg Haas, geologists
Leo Picard
Leo Picard ( he, יהודה ליאו פיקרד, 3 June 1900 – 4 April 1997), was an Israeli geologist and an expert in the field of hydrogeology.
Biography
Yehuda Leo Picard was born in Germany in 1900, and studied at universities in Freiburg a ...
and
Nachman Shulman and several archaeology students, including
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Ofer Bar-Yosef ( he, עופר בר-יוסף; 29 August 1937 – 14 March 2020) was an Israeli archaeologist and anthropologist whose main field of study was the Palaeolithic period.
From 1967 Bar-Yosef was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology a ...
and
Naama Goren-Inbar. After Stekelis' death in 1967, Bar-Yosef and Goren-Inbar conducted the excavations.
Findings
![Ubeidiya relic - bovid horns](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Ubeidiya_relic_-_bovid_horns.jpg)
Prehistoric remains starting from about 1.7 Mya (million years ago), more recently redated
biochronologically to 1.5 Mya,
[ were discovered in the excavations, within about 60 layers of soil within which were found human bones and remains of ancient animals. These include some of the oldest remains found outside Africa, and more than 10,000 ancient stone tools.
Today, the findings are preserved in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
]
Human skeletal remains
In February 2022, archaeologists from 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 ...
, led by Professor Ella Been, announced the discovery of a 1.5-million-year-old complete hominin
The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas).
The ...
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...
. According to the researchers, the fossilized bone belonging to a juvenile between the ages of 6-12 is the oldest evidence of ancient hominins in the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. This latest discovery has shed new light on telling the story of prehistoric migration. The size and shape of the lower lumbar vertebra
The lumbar vertebrae are, in human anatomy, the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis. They are the largest segments of the vertebral column and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse ...
, dated to the Early Pleistocene, indicates that it belonged to an individual from a different species than the one represented by the 1.8-million-year-old skull unearthed at Dmanisi
Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , az, Başkeçid) is a town and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera. The hominin ...
in the Republic of Georgia
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
. After this discovery, Dr Barzilai assumed that different human species produced the stone tool industries present at Ubeidiya and Dmanisi, respectively. The Ubeidiya child was an estimated 155 cm tall at death,[ its predicted adult size being, in the conservative estimation of Prof. Ella Been, of more than 1.8 metres tall.] Regarding the species the hominin child belonged to, the authors of the paper published in the Scientific Reports journal are adopting there the cautious attitude of declaring it as "comparable to other early Pleistocene large-bodied hominins from Africa", but due to a lack of information about its morphology beyond what can be gleaned from a vertebra, they are declining to identify its species other than it being too large to belong to ''H. habilis''.[ In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, however, Dr. Alon Barash, a ]palaeoanthropologist
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinsh ...
, quite categorically declares it to be a ''H. erectus''.[
Other hominin skeletal material from Ubeidiya previously studied consists of a molar, a further minor finding, and a highly worn right lateral lower ]incisor
Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
.[ The analysis of the more recently discovered incisor identified the hominin species to which it belongs as one of the three extant during the Lower Pleistocene, but could not securely distinguish to which of them: '' Homo habilis'', '' H. ergaster'', or '']H. erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
''. The age of the deposits and the location within the Levantine corridor
The Levantine corridor is the relatively narrow strip between the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest and deserts to the southeast which connects Africa to Eurasia. This corridor is a land route of migrations of animals between Eurasia and Afric ...
indirectly suggest it belonging to a ''H. ergaster'' hominin.[
]
Habitation remains and environment
The site also features rock surfaces in which the prehistoric man lived during the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
period. As a result of geologic breakage and foldage activity, the rock surfaces are now inclined at an angle of 70 degrees. It is thought that the area used to feature a pristine lake along which Homo erectus lived after his exodus from Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. The finds discovered at the site validate this theory.
Nearby Tell 'Ubeidiya
Ruins of the Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village of Ubeidiya, Tiberias, depopulated in 1948, are still visible on a nearby tell.
On the mound once stood a walled city which controlled the crossroads of the Jordan Valley and the road linking the Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
to the port of Acre. Tell Ubeidiya is considered as one of the possible candidates for the Bronze Age city of Yenoam, known from Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
sources, but this is a matter of speculation.[ (Reprinted in )]
A 2012 trial excavation along the western fringes of the tell uncovered remains from the Early and Late Bronze, Iron, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.
References
* (Free access only for abstract.)
* (Free access only for abstract.)
{{coord, 32, 41, 22, N, 35, 33, 25, E, display=title
1959 archaeological discoveries
Paleolithic sites
Pleistocene
Archaeological sites in Israel
Prehistoric sites in Israel
Sea of Galilee