Qafzeh Cave (Hebrew:מערת קפזה,Arabic:كهف القفزة) also known byother names, is aprehistoricarchaeological site located at the bottom ofMount Precipice in theJezreel Valley ofLower Galilee south ofNazareth,Israel.[1][2] Important remains ofprehistoric people were discovered on the site - some of the oldest examples in the world, outside ofAfrica, of virtuallyanatomically modern human beings.[3][4] These were discovered on the ledge just outside the cave, where 18layers from theMiddle Paleolithic era were identified. The interior of the cave contains layers ranging from theNeolithic era to theBronze Age.[5]
The Arabic name of the mountain is Jebel el-Qafzeh, 'Mount of the Leap', and the cave's name is derived from it, Qafzeh Cave, sometimes spelledQafza Cave, with article becoming al-Kafza (Cave).
By translation toHebrew, the name becomesMeʿarat Har HaKfitza, 'Leap Mount Cave', or sometimes Mt. HaKfitza Cave, HaKfitza(h) Cave, orMeʿarat Qafzeh. Another Hebrew name isMeʿarat Kedumim or Kedumim Cave.
The various caves in the system are separately numbered usingRoman numerals.[citation needed]
Excavations of the site began in 1932, led byMoshe Stekelis andRené Neuville,[citation needed] but were interrupted due to a collapse.[5] In 1936, during theArab rebellion in Palestine, theBritish blew up the cave because it was being used as a hideout by gangs associated with the rebels.[5] Excavations were renewed in 1965,[4][5] byBernard Vandermeersch,Ofer Bar-Yosef, then continued, intermittently, until 1979.[citation needed][1]
Among the finds on the site arestoves,stone tools belonging to theMousterian culture, and also human and animal bones, which attest to the fact that the cave had been used both for residence and as aburial site.[6] The remains of 15 humanskeletons were discovered on site, in a Mousterian archaeological context. Seven of them are skeletons of adults and the rest - of children. The high proportion of children skeletons is unique among Middle Palaeolithic sites, and it led researchers to look for signs of trauma or disease that might have led to their premature deaths. One child, Qafzeh 12, of around 3 years of age, by modern reference standards, had abnormalities indicatinghydrocephalus.[7] Five of these skeletons were found buried in an orderly fashion in the cave's floor, one being the remains of a 12-13 year old boy found withEuropean fallow deer (Dama dama) horns next to his chest.[8] He had been placed in a rectangular grave carved out of the bedrock, with his arms folded alongside his body and his hands placed on either side of his neck. TheDeer horns were most likely placed as an offering. The boy's skull bears signs of ahead trauma that had probably been the cause of death.[4][9] The site was dated to circa 92,000 ya usingthermoluminescence.[2]
Human remains found in the cave were preserved at the Institut de paléontologie humaine (IPH) de Paris and the largest part of Neville’s lithic series was preserved at theRockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.[2][10]
Skeletons, isolated bones and teeth found in the cave belong to at least 28 people.[11][12] Remains of Qafzeh 9 and 10 that were found in a double burial, are nearly complete and belong to a young male and a child.[13][14]
An additional important find was the remains ofochre that were found on human bones, and, also, 71 pieces of ochre that were associated with burial practices, which indicates that ceremonialfunerary rites that included symbolic acts which held special meaning had already been common around 100,000 years ago.[15]Ochre was used for body dyeing andornamentation. It was also used during the burial of a brain damaged child that was found in the cave. Red, black and yellow ochre-painted seashells were found around the cave.[1][16]
According toC. Loring Brace: "Qafzeh represents the pattern still found in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly West Africa. Although the craniofacial configuration in both is 'modern', the dentition of Qafzeh is archaic in size and form. Qafzeh is a logical representative of the ancestral form for sub-Saharan Africans but not for Cro-Magnon and subsequent Europeans."[17]
The stone tools discovered at the site -side scrapers, disccores and points - were of theLevallois-Mousterian type. These tools are often associated with Neanderthal settlements. Animal remains ofhorse, woodland-adaptedred deer,rhinoceros,fallow deer,wild ox andgazelle,land snails were also found at the site stand forMousterian andUpper Paleolithic period.[3][1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
32°41′00″N35°17′50″E / 32.68333°N 35.29722°E /32.68333; 35.29722
