Neve David excavation- gazelle horn exposed

Neve David 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 ...

located at the foot of the western slope of the Mount Carmel hills in northern Israel. It was inhabited in the later part of the Middle Epipalaeolithic, about 15,000–13,000 BC. Today, the Neve David site is just about from the Mediterranean coastline, but in the final

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 ...

, it was from the shore, overlooking a broad coastal plain. It was thus situated at an

ecotone An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and gras ...

, the boundary between two contrasting ecological zones, with the seasonally dry valleys of the Mount Carmel limestone massif to its east, and the Mediterranean coastal plain to its west. Such locations with access to two complementing ecological resources were favoured by many Epipaleolithic and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

communities.

Settlement

At c. 1000 square meters, Neve David was one of the larger settlements of its time, and the thickness of its archaeological deposit layer of about indicates that it was occupied repeatedly over a long period. Being an open-air site, the good preservation of its remains implies the implementation of solid structures of soil and clay. It yielded large quantities of ground-stone implements, most made of local limestone, but some also of black basalt brought there from some distance. The faunal remains found at Neve David comprised 15 mammal species, two reptile species and seven genera of molluscs. Bone fractures, cut marks and burned bones reflect human activity. The major prey species were gazelle and fallow deer (60% and 30%, respectively), comparable to many other Epipalaeolithic sites from Israel.

Cultural traits

Two burials have been found at the Neve David site. One of these contained the remains of a 23- to 30-year-old male, who was interred in a grave pit lined with stone slabs. Over his head, a stone mortar was placed upside-down, and a part of a broken basalt bowl was found behind his neck. Between his thighs, pieces of a flat basalt grinding slab were laid. The careful construction of the grave and the grave offerings presage later

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 ...

burials. The inhabitants of Neve David were still hunter-gatherers, no signs of agriculture or animal domestication have been found there.

References

*Chris Scarre (ed.): The Human Past, Thames & Hudson 2005, p. 205 *Guy Bar-Oz, Tamar Dayan and Daniel Kaufman: The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Israel: A View from Neve David. Journal of Archaeological Science (1999) 26, p. 67–82

External links

The Epipalaeolithic Faunal Sequence in Israel: A View from Neve David (PDF)
{{Epipalaeolithic Southwest Asia Archaeological sites in Israel Former populated places in Israel Mount Carmel Epipalaeolithic