Mount Carmel, Israel

Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situated there, most notably Haifa, Israel's third largest city, located on the northern and western slopes.

Etymology

The word ''karmel'' ("garden-land") has been explained as a compound of ''kerem'' and ''el'' meaning "vineyard of God" or a clipping of ''kar male,'' meaning "full kernel." Martin Jan Mulder suggested a third etymology, that of ''kerem + l'' with a lamed sufformative, meaning only "vineyard", but this is considered unlikely as evidence for the existence of a lamed sufformative is weak.

In Song of Songs 7:6, ''karmel'' is generally interpreted as a color, perhaps "crimson" or "yellow". suggests connecting it to the yellow "''karmel'' lily" mentioned by the Jerusalem Talmud
y. Sukkah 3:6
) in the version of REbYH.

Geography and geology

The phrase "Mount Carmel" has been used in three distinct ways, referring to either one of the following three areas:
*The long mountain range all the way to Jenin, including the Manasseh Hill Country and the heights southeast of it.
*The northwestern of the mountain range.
*The headland at the northwestern end of the range.

The Carmel range is approximately wide, sloping gradually towards the southwest, but forming a steep ridge on the northeastern face, high. The Jezreel Valley lies to the immediate northeast. The range forms a natural barrier in the landscape, just as the Jezreel Valley forms a natural passageway, and consequently the mountain range and the valley have had a large impact on migration and invasions through the Levant over time.

The mountain formation is an admixture of limestone and flint, containing many caves, and covered in several volcanic rocks. While most of the sedimentary rock originates in the late Cretaceous, some of the north east sediments are from the early Cretaceous, and the edges also feature sediments from the pleistocen.

The sloped side of the mountain is covered with luxuriant vegetation, including oak, pine, olive, and laurel trees.

Several modern towns are located on the range, including Yokneam on the eastern ridge; Zikhron Ya'akov on the southern slope; the Druze communities of Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya on the more central part of the ridge; and the towns of Nesher, Tirat Hakarmel, and the city of Haifa, on the far northwestern promontory and its base. There is also a small kibbutz called Beit Oren, which is located on one of the highest points in the range to the southeast of Haifa. Mount Carmel Naval Base is also located just near the mountain and is the logistical hub of Israeli Navy.

History

Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic

As part of a 1929–1934 campaign, between 1930 and 1932, Dorothy Garrod excavated four caves, and a number of rock shelters, in the Carmel mountain range at el-Wad, el-Tabun, and Es Skhul. Garrod discovered Neanderthal and early modern human remains, including the skeleton of a Neanderthal female, named Tabun I, which is regarded as one of the most important human fossils ever found. The excavation at el-Tabun produced the longest stratigraphic record in the region, spanning 600,000 or more years of human activity.

The four caves and rock-shelters, Tabun, Jamal, el-Wad, and Skhul, together yield results from the Lower Paleolithic to the present day, representing roughly a million years of human evolution. There are also several well-preserved burials of Neanderthals and ''Homo sapiens'' and the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer groups to complex, sedentary agricultural societies is extensively documented at the site. Taken together, these emphasize the paramount significance of the Mount Carmel caves for the study of human cultural and biological evolution within the framework of palaeo-ecological changes."

In 2012, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee added the sites of human evolution at Mount Carmel to the List of World Heritage Sites. The World Heritage Site includes four caves (Tabun, Jamal, el-Wad, and Skhul) on the southern side of the Nahal Me'arot/Wadi El-Mughara Valley. The site fulfils criteria in two separate categories, "natural" and "cultural".

Of great interest for the Near East Epipalaeolithic is Kebara Cave.

In December 2020, archaeologists from the University of Haifa announced the discovery of the oldest known tool used for grinding or scraping, dating back about 350,000 years at the Tabun Cave at Mount Carmel site. According to researchers, this cobble belongs to the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex from the late Lower Paleolithic and was used by hominids for abrading surfaces.

Ancient agriculture: olive oil and wine

Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mount Carmel.Cheyne and Black, '' Encyclopedia Biblica''''Jewish encyclopedia''

As a strategic location

Hebrew Bible

Due to the lush vegetation on the sloped hillside, and many caves on the steeper side, Carmel became the haunt of criminals. Thickly-wooded Carmel was seen as a hiding place, as implied by the Book of Amos. According to the Books of Kings, Elisha travelled to Carmel straight after cursing a group of young men because they had mocked him and the ascension of Elijah by jeering, "Go on up, bald man!" After this, bears came out of the forest and mauled 42 of them. This does not necessarily imply that Elisha had sought asylum there from any potential backlash, although the description in the Book of Amos, of the location being a refuge, is dated by textual scholars to be earlier than the accounts of Elisha in the Books of Kings.

Ottoman period

During the Ottoman Period, Mount Carmel was part of Turabay Emirate (1517–1683), which encompassed also the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, Jenin, Beit She'an Valley, northern Jabal Nablus, Bilad al-Ruha/Ramot Menashe, and the northern part of the Sharon plain.

The Druze settlement in the Carmel region is relatively recent, with the exact timing unclear. According to one tradition accepted by scholars, they settled in the ruins of ancient ''Huseife'', now Isfiya after the defeat of the Lebanon-centered House Ma'an. Daliyat al-Karmel's population consisted of refugees from Aleppo who arrived in the early 19th century. Despite facing attacks from neighboring villages, the largest towns, Isfiya and Daliyat al-Carmel, persevered, possibly following the withdrawal of Ibrahim Pasha's army.''''

World War I

During World War I, Mount Carmel played a significant strategic role. The Battle of Megiddo took place at the head of a pass through the Carmel Ridge, which overlooks the Valley of Jezreel from the south. General Edmund Allenby led the British in the battle, which was a turning point in the war against the Ottoman Empire. The Jezreel Valley had played host to many battles before, including the historically very significant Battle of Megiddo between the Egyptians and Canaanites in the 15th century BCE, but it was only in the 20th-century battle that the Carmel Ridge itself played a significant part, due to the development in artillery and munitions.

As a sacred location

Canaanites

In ancient Canaanite culture, ''high places'' were frequently considered to be sacred, and Mount Carmel appears to have been no exception; Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III lists a ''holy headland'' among his Canaanite territories, and if this equates to Carmel, as Egyptologists such as Maspero believe, then it would indicate that the mountain headland was considered sacred from at least the 15th century BCE.

Israelites and Hebrew Bible

=Altar to God

=
According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to God on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Ahab, but Elijah built a new one ().

=Elijah

=
In mainstream Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thought, Elijah is indelibly associated with the mountain, and he is regarded as having sometimes resided in a grotto on the mountain. Indeed, one Arabic name for Mount Carmel is جبل مار إلياس (''Jabal Mar Elyas'', lit. "Mount of Saint Elias"). In the Books of Kings, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of '' Baal'' to a contest at the altar on Mount Carmel to determine whose deity was genuinely in control of the Kingdom of Israel. The role of the mountain in this story reflects its status as sacred. As the narrative is set during the rule of Ahab and his association with the Phoenicians, biblical scholars suspect that the ''Baal'' in question was probably Melqart.

According to chapter 18 of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible

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