El Wad is an

Epipalaeolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are some ...

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 ...

in Mount Carmel, Israel. The site has two components: El Wad Cave, also known as Mugharat el-Wad or HaNahal Cave ( he, מערת הנחל); and El Wad Terrace, located immediately outside the cave. Together with the nearby sites of

Tabun Cave The Tabun Cave is an excavated site located at Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve, Israel and is one of the Human Evolution sites at Mount Carmel, which were proclaimed as having universal value by UNESCO in 2012. History Together with the nearby ...

Jamal Cave Jamal ( ar, جمال ''/'') is an Arabic masculine given name, meaning "beauty",Jamal
at BehindTheName.com and a surna ...

, and Es-Skhul Cave, El Wad is part of the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve, a national park and

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Background and research history

Telegram of Charles Lambert that announed the discovery of a first prehistoric art object in Cave of Nahal Mearot

El Wad is one of a number of significant prehistoric archaeological sites in the caves of Wadi el-Mughara in Mount Carmel, now protected as the national nature reserve and

. However in the 1920s, very little was known of the prehistory of the region, and the sites were threatened by quarrying for the construction of the

Port of Haifa The Port of Haifa ( he, נמל חיפה) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep-water harbor, which operates all year long, and serves both pa ...

. In 1928, British archaeologist Charles Lambert conducted a trial excavation at El Wad on behalf of the

Department of Antiquities of Mandatory Palestine The Department of Antiquities was a department of the British administration of Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1948 that was in charge of the protection and investigation of archaeological remains and artefacts in Palestine. Operation In Decem ...

to assess the area's archaeological value. Lambert's findings, especially the "sensational" discovery of a bone handle carved in the shape of an animal, "the first prehistoric work of art recorded from the Near East", established the scientific importance of the caves and prevented them being destroyed in the quarrying. The following year, the Department of Antiquities asked

Dorothy Garrod Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, CBE, FBA (5 May 1892 – 18 December 1968) was an English archaeologist who specialised in the Palaeolithic period. She held the position of Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1 ...

to suspend her excavations at

Shuqba cave Shuqba cave is an archaeological site near the town of Shuqba in the western Judaean Mountains in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the West Bank. Location Shuqba cave is located on the northern bank of Wadi en-Natuf. This wadi is a kilo ...

to deal with the "urgent matter" of investigating the el-Mughara caves. Garrod directed large-scale excavations at El Wad for the next six years. She quickly recognised similarities between the stone tools found at El Wad and her previous excavations at Shuqba cave, naming the newly discovered

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

the

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 introducti ...

, after Wadi en-Natuf near Shuqba, and tentatively linking it to the European Mesolithic, based on the fact that both used

microlith A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Th ...

ic technology. Garrod began her excavations with Lambert's soundings and extended them cover most of the interior of the cave and exterior terrace. Excavating Natufian strucutre at el-Wad Terrace

Excavating Natufian strucutre at el-Wad Terrace

In 1980–1981,

François Valla François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

and

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 ...

conducted brief excavations on the terrace to re-examine Garrod's stratigraphy. In 1988–1989,

Mina Weinstein-Evron Mina Weinstein-Evron is an Israeli archaeologist. She is a professor of archaeology at University of Haifa. Evron joined the faculty at University of Haifa as the head of the department of archaeology in 1991. She researches the prehistory of the ...

excavated a small area at the back of the cave that had not been removed by Garrod. Large-scale excavations of the terrace resumed in 1994, directed by Weinstein-Evron, Daniel Kaufman, and

Reuven Yeshurun Reuben or Reuven ( he, רְאוּבֵן, Standard ''Rəʾūven'', Tiberian ''Rŭʾūḇēn'') was the first of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob’s oldest son), according to the Book of Genesis. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of R ...

of the

Zinman Institute of Archaeology 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 I ...

, and are ongoing.

References

External links

*
A Pioneer of Prehistory: Dorothy Garrod and the Caves of Mount Carmel
photo exhibition at the

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed ...

{{Coord missing, Israel Archaeological sites in Israel Natufian sites Caves of Israel Mount Carmel Bone carvings

Background and research history

References

Further reading

External links