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28 - Qafzeh Cave and Terrace

from Part III: - Archaeology of Human Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Qafzeh cave near Nazareth exposes stratified Middle and Upper Palaeolithic layers covered by Neolithic and Byzantine remains. The stratigraphy dis ivided between the interior of the chamber with Upper Palaeolithic remains and the entrance area, known as the Terrace, with Mousterian deposits. The lower Terrace layers (XVII-XXIV) contained human burials. An average age of these burials is 92 ka±5 and ESR readings of EU 96±13 and LU 115±15. The uncovered human remains are 25 including complete or almost complete skeletons and isolated teeth. Qafzeh humans, considered as Archaic modern and similar to those of es-Skhul, Mt. Carmel. Lumps of red ochre were associated in the area of the burials. A unique ochre lump bear clear signs of scraping. A series of Glycymeris shells, brought from the Mediterranean shore, naturally perforated with a few, ochre stained, bearing traces of having been strung. Middle Palaeolithic stone assemblages demonstrate the recurrent centripetal Levallois reduction method obtaining flakes mostly shaped as side-scrapers. The Upper Palaeolithic deposits contained a blade/bladelet industry with el-Wad points (31.5-26.7 ka cal BP) attributed to the Late Ahmarian.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 251 - 254
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

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