 Entrance to the cave | |
 Interactive map of El Wad | |
| Location | Haifa,Israel |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°40′14.5″N34°57′58.8″E / 32.670694°N 34.966333°E /32.670694; 34.966333 |
| Type | Archaeological site |
| Part of | Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 15,000 years ago |
| Periods | Epipalaeolithic Near East |
| Cultures | Natufian culture |
El Wad is anarchaeological site of theEpipalaeolithic Near East inMount Carmel, Israel. The site has two components:El Wad Cave, also known asMughārat al-Wād (Arabic:مغارة الواد) orHaNahal Cave (Hebrew:מערת הנחל); andEl Wad Terrace, located immediately outside the cave.
Together with the nearby sites ofTabun Cave,Jamal Cave, andSkhul Cave, el Wad is part of theNahal Me'arot Nature Reserve,[1] a national park andUNESCO World Heritage Site.[2]
El Wad is one of a number of significant prehistoric archaeological sites in the caves of Wadi el-Mughara inMount Carmel, now protected as thenational nature reserve andUNESCO World Heritage Site.[1][2] 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 thePort of Haifa. In 1928, British archaeologistCharles Lambert conducted atrial excavation at El Wad on behalf of theDepartment of Antiquities of Mandatory Palestine 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",[3] established the scientific importance of the caves and prevented them being destroyed in the quarrying.[4][5]
The following year, the Department of Antiquities askedDorothy Garrod to suspend her excavations atShuqba Cave to deal with the "urgent matter" of investigating the el-Mughara caves.[3] Garrod directed large-scale excavations at El Wad for the next six years.[4] She quickly recognised similarities between the stone tools found at El Wad and her previous excavations at Shuqba cave, naming the newly discoveredindustry theNatufian, afterWadi en-Natuf near Shuqba, and tentatively linking it to the EuropeanMesolithic, based on the fact that both usedmicrolithic technology.[6] Garrod began her excavations with Lambert's soundings and extended them cover most of the interior of the cave and exterior terrace.[4]
In 1980-1981,François Valla andOfer Bar-Yosef conducted brief excavations on the terrace to re-examine Garrod'sstratigraphy.[4] In 1988–1989,Mina Weinstein-Evron excavated a small area at the back of the cave that had not been removed by Garrod.[4] Large-scale excavations of the terrace resumed in 1994, directed by Weinstein-Evron,Daniel Kaufman, andReuven Yeshurun of theZinman Institute of Archaeology, and are ongoing.[7][8]
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