 Manot Cave under excavation in 2011 | |
  Location in Israel | |
| Location | Western Galilee, Israel |
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| Coordinates | 33°02′06″N35°11′36″E / 33.03500°N 35.19333°E /33.03500; 35.19333 |
| Altitude | 220 m (722 ft)[1] |
| Type | karstic cave |
| Length | 80 m (262 ft) |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2010–2017[1] |
Manot Cave (Hebrew:מערת מנותMe'arat Manot) is a cave inWestern Galilee,Israel, discovered in 2008.[2] It is notable for the discovery of askull that belongs to amodern human, calledManot 1, which is estimated to be 54,700 years old (U–Th dating of the calcitic crust on the Manot 1 calvaria and of speleothems in the cave). The partial skull was discovered at the beginning of the cave's exploration in 2008. Its significance was realised after detailed scientific analysis, and was first published in an online edition ofNature on 28 January 2015.[3][4] This age implies that the specimen is the oldest known human outside Africa, and is evidence that modern humans lived side-by-side withNeanderthals.[5] The cave is also noted for its "impressive archaeological record of flint and bone artefacts".[5] Geologically, it is an "activestalactite cave".[6]
Manot Cave is situated in Western Galilee, about 10 km north ofHaYonim Cave and 50 km northeast of Mt. Carmel. It was discovered accidentally during construction work in 2008 when abulldozer struck open its roof.[7] Experts from the Cave Research Unit ofHebrew University of Jerusalem immediately made the initial survey. Important finds were stone tools, charcoal pieces, and human remains. The tools consisted of aLevallois point,burins,bladelets, overpassed blades, andAurignacian tools such as nosed and carinated endscrapers. There were also remains of "fallow deer,red deer,mountain gazelle, horse,aurochs,hyena, and bear".[2] The major find was an almost complete human skull. The finds were reported to theIsrael Antiquities Authority (IAA), which granted another survey. Ofer Marder and H. Khalaily made the survey and found that it was a rich archaeological site. Recognising its importance, the IAA granted a full-scale excavation in 2010. For three weeks the site was excavated by a collaboration of archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem,Tel Aviv University, Geological Survey of Israel, Zinman Institute of Archaeology ofUniversity of Haifa, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Sciences ofWeizmann Institute of Science, and the Department of Archaeology ofBoston University.[2]
The Manot Cave consists of a lengthy hall, 80 m long and between 10m and 25m wide. Two lower chambers are connected to it from north and south. It is possible that the main entrances were at both the eastern and western ends. The cave has activestalagmite formations. Archaeological remains indicate that the most recent artifacts belong to the EarlyPalaeolithic period. This further indicates that the cave had been completely sealed for at least 15,000 years. The blockage was probably due to rock falls and active stalagmites at the main entrances.[2]
Archaeologists have offered the following chronology for the cave, based on radiocarbon dating: an EarlyAhmarian phase (46,000–42,000 BP), aLevantine Aurignacian phase (38,000–34,000 BP), and a post-Levantine Aurignacian phase (34,000–33,000 BP).[1]
The most important find in the cave is a partialskullcap of a modern human, referred to by archaeologists asManot 1. The specimen is estimated (usinguranium–thorium dating) to be 54,700 years old.[3] It shows that modern humans lived together with another human species, the Neanderthals, in theLevant. This could support the notion that these two species had interbred, as evidenced bygenome sequencing.[8][9]
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