Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh ("Cave of the Robbers") is a prehistoric

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 an ...

in Upper Galilee,

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 is situated from the

Nahal Amud Nahal Amud ( he, נחל עמוד), also known as the Wadi al-Amud, is a stream in the Upper Galilee region of Israel that flows into the Sea of Galilee. History The source of the stream, Ramat Dalton, is located 800 meters above sea level. Its d ...

outlet, approximately above the wadi bed ( below sea level). It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".

History

Discovered in 1925, the skull was the first fossilised archaic human found in

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

. Together with the remains found at Es Skhul and the

Wadi el-Mughara Caves The Caves of Nahal Me’arot / Wadi el-Mughara ("Caves Creek"), named here by the Hebrew and Arabic name of the valley where they are located, are a UNESCO Site of Human Evolution in the Mount Carmel, Carmel mountain range near Haifa in northern ...

, this find was classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and as ''Palaeoanthropus palestinensis''. Today its taxonomy is that of '' Homo heidelbergensis''. Zuttiyeh cave is at the opening of a limestone ravine where Nahal Amud turns eastward, above a smaller cave known as Mugharet el-Emireh (Cave of the Princess). IMJ view 20130115 192522

The cave was excavated from 1925 to 1926 by Francis Turville-Petre. It was the first paleontological excavation in the region. Turville-Petre discovered a skull, referred to as the ''Galilee Skull'', that was initially described as the second

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 ...

-like specimen. It was originally attributed to a Mousterian stratum and is now thought to be from an earlier

Acheulo-Yabrudian complex The Acheulo-Yabrudian complex is a complex of archaeological cultures in the Levant at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic. It follows the Acheulian and precedes the Mousterian. It is also called the Mugharan Tradition or the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultur ...

. Later studies showed that the face was relatively flat, with no evidence of Neanderthal-like facial

prognathism Prognathism, also called Habsburg jaw or Habsburgs' jaw primarily in the context of its prevalence amongst members of the House of Habsburg, is a positional relationship of the mandible or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws pr ...

. The frontal bone and part of the upper face were found in the Mugharan level, which leads to an estimate of the age of the fossil to range from 200 to 500 kya. Similarities with

Zhoukoudian Zhoukoudian Area () is a town and an area located on the east Fangshan District, Beijing, China. It borders Nanjiao and Fozizhuang Townships to its north, Xiangyang, Chengguan and Yingfeng Subdistricts to its east, Shilou and Hangcunhe Towns to ...

remains suggest a possible ancestral relationship. The skull is housed in the

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum A museum ...

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...

along with many other findings of Turville-Petre/ A cast of the skull is on display at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

References

External links

What does it mean to be human?
* {{Navbox prehistoric caves Prehistoric sites in Israel Upper Galilee

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links