Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh ("Cave of the Robbers"),[1] also called as the "Skull Cave", is a prehistoricarchaeological site inUpper Galilee,Israel.[2] It is situated 2,900 m (9,500 ft) from theNahal Amud outlet, approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the wadi bed (148 m (486 ft) below sea level). It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".[3]
Zuttiyeh cave is at the opening of a limestone ravine where Nahal Amud turns eastward, 250 m (820 ft) above a smaller cave known as Mugharet el-Emireh (Cave of the Princess).[8]
The cave was excavated from 1925 to 1926 byFrancis Turville-Petre.[6] It was the first paleontological excavation in the region.[10] Turville-Petre discovered a skull, referred to as theGalilee Skull, that was initially described as the secondNeanderthal-like specimen. It was originally attributed to aMousterian stratum and is now thought to be from an earlierAcheulo-Yabrudian complex. Later studies showed that the face was relatively flat, with no evidence of Neanderthal-like facialprognathism.[6]
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.[11]Similarities withZhoukoudian remains suggest a possible ancestral relationship.[12]
^Garrod, D. E. A. (1955). "The Mugharet el-Emireh in Lower Galilee: Type-Station of the Emiran Industry".Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.85 (1/2):141–162.doi:10.2307/2844188.JSTOR2844188.
