The Atlit-Yam submerged prehistoric site

The Qesem cave

The debate over the biological origins of modern humans and their relationship to preceding hominins entails some of the most contentious and exciting issues in contemporary paleoanthropology. A major obstacle to the resolution of these issues has been the lack of substantial and accurately dated hominid fossils from between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago.
Prehistoric sites in Israel are most likely to shed light on this important period in human evolution as they occupy an important position on the Pleistocene migration routes spanning Africa, Europe and Asia.
Although Israel is one of the richest areas in prehistoric sites in the Levant, including several prominent sites that bear evidence of early humans, the many decades of excavations have revealed mainly the remains of Neandertals and Anatomically Modern Homo sapiens (AMHS). The remains of their predecessors in the Levant are yet unknown.
The prehistoric site of Qesem, located near the town of Rosh Ha'ayin, with archaeological layers spanning "between" 200k to 400k years may, therefore, contain fossils which can contribute significantly to the knowledge and understanding of human evolution in one of the most crucial but still enigmatic moments of its long history.

Earliest evidence for an organized graveyard from the submerged Pottery Neolithic site of Neve-Yam, Carmel coast, Israel

Burial customs at Neve-Yam, a late Pottery Neolithic (second half of 7th millennium BP non cal; second half of the 8th millennium cal BC) settlement submerged off the Carmel coast of Israel, are presented. The, as yet, unique human burials in stone built graves, were located in a specific section of the site devoted to burial or activities associated with burials. The graves, built from undressed stones, were oval in form, covered by stone slabs, and in an East-West orientation. No grave goods were found, however 3 concentrations of charred seeds, possibly associated with the burials were recovered in the vicinity of the graves. The significance of the Neve-Yam burial ground, burials and population are discussed in the framework of Pottery Neolithic burial customs.

The El-Wad Natufian site, Mount Carmel

El-Wad (Cave of the Valley) is situated on the southern escarpment of Nahal Me‘arot (Valley of the Caves), together with three other caves, Tabun (“Oven”), Skhul (“Kids”) and Jamal (“Camel”). It faces to the NW and lies approximately 44.5m above sea level and 12.5m above the level of the valley, at a point where the wadi opens out onto the coastal plain. A large cave with a lofty roof, el-Wad is greater in area than any of the other three caves. In front of the cave there is a small terrace, sloping slightly downwards to a distance of 9.5m from the cave mouth. The el-Wad Natufians were true Carmelites who exploited their environment fully and with great efficiency. Local raw materials (flints and ochre) as well as faunal and probably vegetal resources (that are usually not preserved in Natufian sites), from a mosaic of biotopes, were exploited.
Lambert was the first (in 1928) to unveil the Natufian layers at el-Wad and to establish their stratigraphy. The subsequent recognition of the Mount Carmel caves as archaeologically important and their registration as an antiquity site were followed by six years of excavation directed, on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and the American School of Prehistoric Research, by Dorothy A.E. Garrod (Garrod and Bate, 1937). Garrod’s expedition excavated el-Wad during five seasons (1929-1933). In 1980-1981, limited excavations were conducted by F. Valla, of the French Archaeological Mission in Jerusalem, and O. Bar-Yosef, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, north-east of Garrod’s terrace excavations in an area immediately adjacent to it. In 1988-1989 excavations were carried out in Chamber III of the cave (Weinstein-Evron, 1998) and an Early Natufian occurrence was unearthed. It contained rich lithic and faunal assemblages, together with characteristic basalt implements as well as art and decorative objects. The presently continuing excavations were initiated on the terrace in 1994.
The Natufian sequence at el-Wad is now recognized as one of the longest and most complete in the Levant. Within a series of layers encompassing some 2,000 years, all sub-stages, from the very early Natufian through its late to final stages, are superimposed at the site.