Qesem cave

Last updated
Qesem cave
מערת קסם‎
m`rt qsm 2.jpg
Israel outline center ta.png
Red pog.svg
Qesem Cave
Israel location map with stripes.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Israel
Locationnear the arab city Kafr Qasim
History
Periods Lower Paleolithic

Qesem cave is a Lower Paleolithic archaeological site near the city of Kafr Qasim in Israel. Early humans were occupying the site by 400,000 until c. 200,000 years ago.

Contents

The karst cave attracted considerable attention in December 2010 when reports suggested Israeli and Spanish archaeologists had found the earliest evidence yet of modern humans. Science bloggers pointed out that the media coverage had inaccurately reflected the scientific report. [1]

Selective large-game hunting was regularly done followed by butchery of desired carcass parts for transport back to a residence for food sharing and cooking.

Description

Qesem cave excavations, 2012 m`rt qsm 1.jpg
Qesem cave excavations, 2012

The cave exists in Turonian limestone in the western mountain ridge of Israel between the Samaria Hills and the Israeli coastal plain. [2] [3] It is 90m above sea level and about 12 kilometers from the east coast of Mediterranean Sea. [4]

Deposits at the site are 7.5 m (25 ft) deep, and are divided into two layers: the upper is about 4.5 m (15 ft) thick, and the lower 3 m (10 ft). The upper forms a step on the lower one. The deposits contain stone tools and animal remains from the Acheulo-Yabrudian complex. This a period that follows after the Acheulian but before the Mousterian. No traces of Mousterian occupation have been found. [2] [3]

The cave was found in October 2000 when road construction destroyed its ceiling. This led to two rescue excavations in 2001. At present the site is protected, covered and fenced and subject to on-going excavations. [5]

Dating

Qesem Cave was occupied from about 420–220 ka, [6] although there is some uncertainty regarding the end date. [7] All archaeological finds at Qesem Cave have been assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic. [8] [9] In 2003, 230Th/234U dating on speleothems established the beginning of the occupation as "well before about 382,000 years ago." [2] Further research in 2010, 2013, and 2016, involved thermoluminescence dating (TL) on burnt flints and ESR/U-series (Electron spin resonance dating) on speleothems and herbivorous teeth. [10] [11] [7] As a result, the date for the start of the occupation has been revised to 420 ka. [12] [13] [14] The date for the end of the occupation has been problematic, with an early estimate of "before 152,000," [2] subsequently revised to "between 220 and 194 ka" but rounded to "ca. 200 ka"; [10] more recently "closer to 220 ka than to 194 ka" [7] and thus rounded to "220 ka." [6]

Artifacts

Shaped stone balls from Qesem Cave. Shaped stone balls from Qesem Cave.png
Shaped stone balls from Qesem Cave.

Qesem Cave stone tools are made of flint. They are mainly blades, end scrapers, burins, and naturally backed knives. There are also flakes and hammerstones. Some of the horizons contain many blades and related blade-tools but they are absent in others. However thick side-scrapers are found throughout them. Acheulian type hand-axes are found at the top and at the bottom of the archaeological sequence. All stages of stone tool manufacture have been found. Many of the cores have sufficient of the surface cortex to allow reconstruction of the original stone's shape. [3] Stone tools of Qesem belong to 2 industries: Amudian (blades dominated) and Yabrudian (scraper dominated). [4]

Using the concentration of cosmic ray created Beryllium-10 it has been argued that the flint used at Qesem Cave was surface-collected or only dug from shallow quarries. This is in contrast to flint of the same period from Tabun Cave nearby that originated two or more metres below the surface, probably after being mined. [15]

A 2020 study led by researcher Ella Assaf from Tel Aviv University concluded that shaped stone balls discovered at Qesem cave were used to break the bones of large animals in order to extract the nutritious marrow inside. [16] [17]

Fire

The Qesem Cave contains one of the earliest examples of regular use of fire in the Middle Pleistocene. Large quantities of burnt bone, defined by a combination of microscopic and macroscopic criteria, and moderately heated soil lumps suggest butchering and prey-defleshing occurred near fireplaces.

10–36% of identified bone specimens show signs of burning and on unidentified bone ones it could be up to 84%. Such heat reached 500 degrees C. [18]

A 300,000-year-old hearth was unearthed in a central part of the cave. Layers of ash was discovered in the pit, and burnt animal bones and flint tools used for carving meat were found near the hearth, suggesting it was used repeatedly and was a focal point for the people living there. [19]

"These were a very sophisticated, very clever people whose toolmaking was advanced, who hunted skillfully, could produce fire at will, and of course ate well, we believe it would have been a fairly small group of people staying here”, said Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ran Barkai. [20] [4] [21]

A 2020 study concluded that hominins living in Qesem cave managed to heat their flint to different temperatures before knapping it into different tools, for instance, blades were heated at 259 °C (498 °F) and flakes at 413 °C (775 °F) . [22]

Hunted prey

The faunal assemblages consist of 14 taxa. [21] [4] Bones from 4,740 prey animals have been identified. These are mostly large mammals such as fallow deer (Dama, large-bodied form, 73–76% of identified specimens), aurochs (Bos), horse (Equus, caballine type), wild pig (Sus), wild goat, roe deer, wild ass and red deer (Cervus). Tortoise (Testudo) and a rare rhinoceros remains have also been found but no gazelle bones. [23]

These animal bones show marks of butchery, marrow extraction and burning from fire. Analysis of the orientation and anatomical placements of the cut marks suggest meat and connective tissue were cut off in a planned manner from the bone. [23]

Deer remains are limited to limb bones and head parts without remains of vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, or feet suggesting that butchery was selective in regard to the body parts that had been carried to the cave following initial butchery of the animal carcasses elsewhere. [23]

Moreover, the presence of fetal bones and the absence of deer antlers implies that much of the hunting took place in late winter through early summer. At that time the need for additional fat in the diet would have made those animals particularly important prey. The excavators described this as "prime-age-focused harvesting, a uniquely human predator–prey relationship". [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mousterian</span> European Middle Paleolithic culture

The Mousterian is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the latter part of the Middle Paleolithic, the middle of the West Eurasian Old Stone Age. It lasted roughly from 160,000 to 40,000 BP. If its predecessor, known as Levallois or Levallois-Mousterian, is included, the range is extended to as early as c. 300,000–200,000 BP. The main following period is the Aurignacian of Homo sapiens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straight-tusked elephant</span> Extinct species of elephant

The straight-tusked elephant is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. It was larger than any living elephant, with some adult males suggested to reach 3.81–4.2 metres (12.5–13.8 ft) in shoulder height, and 11.3–15 tonnes in weight. Like modern elephants, the straight-tusked elephant lived in herds, flourishing during interglacial periods, when its range would extend as far north as Great Britain. Skeletons found in association with stone tools and wooden spears suggest they were scavenged and hunted by early humans, including Neanderthals. It is the ancestral species of most dwarf elephants that inhabited islands in the Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shulaveri–Shomu culture</span> Late Stone Age culture in the south Caucasus

The Shulaveri–Shomu culture, also known as the Shulaveri-Shomutepe-Aratashen culture, is an archaeological culture that existed on the territory of present-day Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, as well as parts of northern Iran during the Late Neolithic/Eneolithic. It lasted from around the end of the seventh millennium BC to the beginning of the fifth millennium BC.

<i>Anancus</i> Genus of proboscideans

Anancus is an extinct genus of "tetralophodont gomphothere" native to Afro-Eurasia, that lived from the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene until its extinction during the Early Pleistocene, roughly from 8.5–2 million years ago.

<i>Cuvieronius</i> Extinct genus of mammals

Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Among the last gomphotheres, it became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago, following the arrival of humans to the Americas.

<i>Mammuthus meridionalis</i> Extinct species of mammal

Mammuthus meridionalis, sometimes called the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Eurasia, including Europe, during the Early Pleistocene, living from around 2.5 million years ago to 800,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kozarnika, Dimovo Municipality</span> Cave and archaeological site in Bulgaria

Kozarnika or Peshtera Kozarnika is a cave in northwestern Bulgaria that was used as a hunters’ shelter as early as the Lower Paleolithic. It marks an older route of early human migration from Africa to Europe via the Balkans, prior to the other currently suggested route - the one across Gibraltar. The cave probably keeps the earliest evidence of human symbolic behaviour and the earliest European Gravette flint assemblages came to light here.

The Acheulo-Yabrudian complex is a complex of archaeological cultures in the Levant at the end of the Lower Palaeolithic. It follows the Acheulian and precedes the Mousterian. It is also called the Mugharan Tradition or the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC).

Avi Gopher is an Israeli archaeologist. He is a professor at the University of Tel Aviv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh</span> Archaeological site in Israel

Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh is a prehistoric archaeological site in Upper Galilee, Israel. It is situated 800 m (2,600 ft) from the Nahal Amud outlet, approximately 30 m (98 ft) above the wadi bed. It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".

Pongo hooijeri is an extinct species of orangutan from the Pleistocene of Vietnam. It was named in honor of paleontologist Dirk Albert Hooijer. Fossils of the ape were found in the Tham Hai Cave.

Ngalue Cave is an archaeological site located in the Niassa province of Mozambique. Excavated primarily by Julio Mercader in 2007, Ngalue is a Middle Stone Age site. Due to its relatively dry environment and the shape of the cave, Ngalue had very good preservation and not only were stone tools and animal bones found. There were preserved starch grains on many of the stone tools as well. Overall, this site can help add to our knowledge of the Middle Stone Age site in the Niassa valley and to our understanding of the subsistence of Middle Stone Age peoples in Eastern Africa as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gueldaman caves</span> Caves in Algeria

The Gueldaman caves are a prehistoric mountain ridge on the right bank of the Soummam valley in Algeria. The ridge consists of a large karst network with several natural caves, which is situated near the town of Akbou, Béjaïa Province, in the western part of the Babor Mountains in the Tell Atlas range. The location spans over 7 km (4.3 mi) and varies in altitude between 556 m (1,824 ft) to 898 m (2,946 ft). Adrar is a Berber (Amazigh) term for mountain, possibly a cognate of the toponym Atlas. Gueldaman is a Numidian water deity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Isotope Stage 9</span>

Marine Isotope Stage 9 was an interglacial period that consisted of two interstadial and one stadial period. It is the final period of the Lower Paleolithic and lasted from 337,000 to 300,000 years ago according to Lisiecki and Raymo's LR04 Benthic Stack. It corresponds to the Purfleet Interglacial in Britain, the Holstein Interglacial in continental Europe, and the Pre-Illinoian in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arago cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in southern France

Arago cave is a prehistoric site in the community of Tautavel, in the department of Pyrénées-Orientales. It is a large cavity overlooking a perennial stream called the Verdouble. Human remains attributed to the Tautavel Man and the lithic remnants of the Lower Paleolithic were discovered in the cave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cueva de Bolomor</span> Archaeological site in Valencian Community, Spain

Cueva de Bolomor, or Bolomor Cave, is an archaeological site near Tavernes de la Valldigna in the Valencian Community, Spain. It was occupied over a long period of time, between 350,000 and 120,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fumane Cave</span> Archaeological site in Italy

Fumane Cave is a dolomite cave in the Fumane Valley, which was formed in the Neogene period. The cave contains rich evidence of three prehistoric hominid cultures: Mousterian, Uluzzian and Aurignacian. Additionally, the cave has some of the oldest cave art that has been discovered in Europe.

KPS-75 is an archaeological site near Al-Karak in Jordan. It is a rock shelter on the northern edge of the Wadi al-Hasa basin, which was occupied by humans at least three times during the Early Epipalaeolithic period. Stone tools found at the site are associated with the Nebekian and Qalkhan cultures. During the time the site was occupied, a small seasonal lake was located nearby, and its inhabitants mostly hunted gazelle, along with smaller numbers of equids, aurochs, wild goats, tortoises, hares, and birds.

Nesher Ramla <i>Homo</i> Extinct population of archaic humans

The Nesher RamlaHomo group are an extinct population of archaic humans who lived during the Middle Pleistocene in what is now modern-day Israel. In 2010, evidence of a tool industry had been discovered during a year of archaeological excavations at the Nesher Ramla site. In 2021, the first Nesher Ramla Homo individual was identified from remains discovered during further excavations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Peresani</span> Italian prehistoric archaeologist

Marco Peresani is an Italian prehistoric archaeologist, anthropologist, university professor and scientific communicator.

References

  1. ↑ Watzman, Haim (31 December 2010). "Human remains spark spat". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2010.700 . Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Barkai R, Gopher A, Lauritzen SE, Frumkin A (June 2003). "Uranium series dates from Qesem Cave, Israel, and the end of the Lower Palaeolithic" (PDF). Nature. 423 (6943): 977–9. Bibcode:2003Natur.423..977B. doi:10.1038/nature01718. PMID   12827199. S2CID   4415446.
  3. 1 2 3 Gopher A, Barkai R, Shimelmitz R, Khalaily M, Lemorini C, Heshkovitz I, et al., (2005). Qesem Cave: An Amudian Site in Central Israel. Journal of The Israel Prehistoric Society, 35:69-92
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hirst, K. Kris. "Qesem Cave - Middle and Lower Paleolithic Site in Israel". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  5. ↑ Qesem Cave Project Excavations
  6. 1 2 Fornai, Cinzia; Benazzi, Stefano; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran; Sarig, Rachel; Bookstein, Fred L.; Hershkovitz, Israel; Weber, Gerhard W. (2016). "The Qesem Cave hominin material (part 2): A morphometric analysis of dm2-QC2 deciduous lower second molar". Quaternary International. 398: 175–189. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398..175F. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.102. ISSN   1040-6182. The Qesem Cave...site...has yielded...teeth associated to the...(AYCC) and dated to about 420-220 ka.
  7. 1 2 3 Falguères, C.; Richard, M.; Tombret, O.; Shao, Q.; Bahain, J.J.; Gopher, A.; Barkai, R. (2016). "New ESR/U-series dates in Yabrudian and Amudian layers at Qesem Cave, Israel". Quaternary International. 398: 6–12. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398....6F. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.006. ISSN   1040-6182. 420-200 ka...closer to 220 ka.
  8. ↑ Hershkovitz, Israel; Weber, Gerhard W.; Fornai, Cinzia; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran; Slon, Viviane; Quam, Rolf; Gabet, Yankel; Sarig, Rachel (2016). "New Middle Pleistocene dental remains from Qesem Cave (Israel)". Quaternary International. 398: 148–158. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398..148H. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.059. ISSN   1040-6182. All archaeological finds at Qesem Cave have been assigned to the Acheulo-Yabrusian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic.
  9. ↑ Assaf, Ella; Barkai, Ran; Gopher, Avi (2016). "Knowledge transmission and apprentice flint-knappers in the Acheulo-Yabrudian: A case study from Qesem Cave, Israel". Quaternary International. 398: 70–85. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398...70A. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.028. ISSN   1040-6182. The site of Qesem Cave...consists of AYCC layers only.
  10. 1 2 Gopher, A.; Ayalon, A.; Bar-Matthews, M.; Barkai, R.; Frumkin, A.; Karkanas, P.; Shahack-Gross, R. (2010). "The chronology of the late Lower Paleolithic in the Levant based on U–Th ages of speleothems from Qesem Cave, Israel". Quaternary Geochronology. 5 (6): 644–656. Bibcode:2010QuGeo...5..644G. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2010.03.003. ISSN   1871-1014.
  11. ↑ Mercier, Norbert; Valladas, Hélène; Falguères, Christophe; Shao, Qingfeng; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran; Bahain, Jean-Jacques; Vialettes, Laurence; Joron, Jean-Louis; Reyss, Jean-Louis (2013). "New datings of Amudian layers at Qesem Cave (Israel): results of TL applied to burnt flints and ESR/U-series to teeth". Journal of Archaeological Science. 40 (7): 3011–3020. Bibcode:2013JArSc..40.3011M. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.03.002. ISSN   0305-4403.
  12. ↑ Parush, Yoni; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran (2016). "Amudian versus Yabrudian under the rock shelf: A study of two lithic assemblages from Qesem Cave, Israel". Quaternary International. 398: 13–36. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398...13P. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.01.050. ISSN   1040-6182.
  13. ↑ Barkai, Ran; Rosell, Jordi; Blasco, Ruth; Gopher, Avi (2017). "Fire for a Reason: Barbecue at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel". Current Anthropology. 58 (S16): S314–S328. doi:10.1086/691211. ISSN   0011-3204. S2CID   148900875.
  14. ↑ Weber, Gerhard W.; Fornai, Cinzia; Gopher, Avi; Barkai, Ran; Sarig, Rachel; Hershkovitz, Israel (2016). "The Qesem Cave hominin material (part 1): A morphometric analysis of the mandibular premolars and molar" (PDF). Quaternary International. 398: 159–174. Bibcode:2016QuInt.398..159W. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.027. ISSN   1040-6182.
  15. ↑ Verri, G.; Barkai, R.; Bordeanu, C.; Gopher, A.; Hass, M.; Kaufman, A.; Kubik, P.; Montanari, E.; Paul, M.; Ronen, A.; Weiner, S.; Boaretto, E. (2004-05-17). "Flint mining in prehistory recorded by in situ -produced cosmogenic 10 Be". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (21): 7880–7884. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101.7880V. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0402302101 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   419525 . PMID   15148365.
  16. ↑ Assaf, Ella; Caricola, Isabella; Gopher, Avi; Rosell, Jordi; Blasco, Ruth; Bar, Oded; Zilberman, Ezra; Lemorini, Cristina; Baena, Javier; Barkai, Ran; Cristiani, Emanuela (2020-04-09). "Shaped stone balls were used for bone marrow extraction at Lower Paleolithic Qesem Cave, Israel". PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science (PLoS). 15 (4): e0230972. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1530972A. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230972 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   7145020 . PMID   32271815.
  17. ↑ David, Ariel (2020-04-14). "Israeli Archaeologists Solve Mystery of Prehistoric Stone Balls". Haaretz. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  18. ↑ Karkanas P, Shahack-Gross R, Ayalon A, et al. (August 2007). "Evidence for habitual use of fire at the end of the Lower Paleolithic: site-formation processes at Qesem Cave, Israel" (PDF). J. Hum. Evol. 53 (2): 197–212. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.04.002. PMID   17572475.
  19. ↑ Gannon, Megan (2014-01-28). "Ancient Hearth Found In Israel Dates Back 300,000 Years, Scientists Say". Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  20. ↑ Blasco, R.; Rosell, J.; Arilla, M.; Margalida, A.; Villalba, D.; Gopher, A.; Barkai, R. (2019-10-01). "Bone marrow storage and delayed consumption at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel (420 to 200 ka)". Science Advances. 5 (10): eaav9822. Bibcode:2019SciA....5.9822B. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav9822 . ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   6785254 . PMID   31633015.
  21. 1 2 "Oldest Known Hearth Found in Israel Cave". National Geographic News. 2014-01-29. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  22. ↑ Agam, Aviad; Azuri, Ido; Pinkas, Iddo; Gopher, Avi; Natalio, Filipe (2020). "Estimating temperatures of heated Lower Palaeolithic flint artefacts" (PDF). Nature Human Behaviour. 5 (2): 221–228. doi:10.1038/s41562-020-00955-z. PMID   33020589. S2CID   222160202.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Stiner MC, Barkai R, Gopher A (July 2009). "Cooperative hunting and meat sharing 400–200 kya at Qesem Cave, Israel". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106 (32): 13207–12. Bibcode:2009PNAS..10613207S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0900564106 . PMC   2726383 . PMID   19666542.

32°07′N34°59′E / 32.11°N 34.98°E / 32.11; 34.98

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.