Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T07:15:18.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

32 - Mughr el-Hamamah

An Early Upper Palaeolithic Cave Site on the Eastern Jordan Valley Flanks

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
Get access

Summary

Mughr el-Hamamah (Caves of the Doves, Ajlun Governate, Jordan) preserves a single late Pleistocene archaeological layer, which accumulated over likely no more than six millennia, ca. 45-39 ka. The in situ Early Upper Palaeolithic deposits at Mughr el-Hamamah preserve a palimpsest sequence of mobile hunter-gatherer camp occupations. Of particular importance is the excellent preservation of botanical remains, including wood charcoal and phytoliths. The artefact assemblage includes diverse lithics, but the techno-typological characteristics include both Initial Upper Palaeolithic and Early Ahmarian features. Although it is a single-period site, Mughr el-Hamamah provides a unique opportunity to understand better the eastern Jordan Valley environment during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and its influence on foraging, settlement, on-site activity, and mobility behaviours of human groups. This is especially important, as we seek to understand the systemic causes of anatomically modern human-Neanderthal population-biological turnover, both regionally and throughout western Eurasia.
Type
Chapter
Information
Quaternary of the Levant
Environments, Climate Change, and Humans
, pp. 285 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bar-Yosef, O. 1994. The contributions of southwest Asia to the study of the origin of modern humans. In Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans, ed. Nitecki, D.V. & Nitecki, M.H.. Springer, pp. 2366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartov, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2003. Catastrophic arid events in the east Mediterranean linked with the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Geology 31: 439–42.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belmaker, M., Albert, R.M., Arpin, T. et al. 2013. Paleoecological evidence for humid and arboreal environment in the Levantine Early UP and its implication for Modern Human dispersal from Africa: Micromammal evidence from the Mughr el-Hamamah, Ajlun District, Jordan. Paleoanthropology Society Meeting Abstracts, Honolulu, 2–3 April 2013.Google Scholar
Belovsky, G.E. 1987. Hunter-gatherer foraging: A linear programming approach. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6: 2976. doi:10.1016/0278–4165(87)90016-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, L.R. 1968. Post-Pleistocene adaptations. In New Perspectives in Archaeology, ed. Binford, S.R. & Binford, L.R.. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 313–41.Google Scholar
Clark, J.L. & Stutz, A.J. 2014. The Early Upper Paleolithic fauna from Mughr el-Hamamah (Jordan): An initial report on species representation and gazelle exploitation based on the dental remains. Paper presented at 23rd Annual Meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Google Scholar
Condemi, S., Mounier, A., Giunti, P. et al. 2013. Possible interbreeding in late Italian Neanderthals? New data from the Mezzena jaw (Monti Lessini, Verona, Italy). PLoS ONE 8: e59781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059781Google Scholar
Garrod, D.A.E. 1951. A transitional industry from the base of the Upper Palæolithic in Palestine and Syria. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 81: 121–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrod, D.A.E. 1955. The Mugharet el-Emireh in Lower Galilee: Type station of the Emiran industry. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 85: 141–62.Google Scholar
Gilligan, I. 2010. The prehistoric development of clothing: Archaeological implications of a thermal model. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 17: 1580. doi:10.1007/s10816–009–9076-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hershkovitz, I., Marder, O., Ayalon, A. et al. 2015. Levantine cranium from Manot Cave (Israel) foreshadows the first European modern humans. Nature 520: 216–19. doi:10.1038/nature14134Google Scholar
Higham, T., Douka, K., Wood, R. et al. 2014. The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature 512: 306–9. doi:10.1038/nature13621Google Scholar
Kuhn, S.L. & Stiner, M.C. 2006. What's a mother to do? The division of labor among Neandertals and modern humans in Eurasia. Current Anthropology 47: 953–81. doi:10.1086/507197Google Scholar
Kuhn, S.L., Stiner, M.C., Güleç, E. et al. 2009. The early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçağızlı Cave (Hatay, Turkey). Journal of Human Evolution 56: 87113. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.07.014Google Scholar
Kuhn, S.L. & Zwyns, N. 2014. Rethinking the initial Upper Paleolithic. Quaternary International, Recent Advances in Studies of the Late Pleistocene and Palaeolithic of Northeast Asia 347: 2938. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.040Google Scholar
Machlus, M., Enzel, Y., Goldstein, S. L., Marco, S. & Stein, M. 2000. Reconstruction of low-stands of lake Lisan between 55 and 35 kyr. Quaternary International 73/74: 137–44.Google Scholar
Marks, A.E. 1977. The Upper Paleolithic sites of Boker Tachtit and Boker: A preliminary report. In Prehistory and Paleoenvironments in the Central Negev, Israel, Volume II: The Avdat/Aqev Area, Part 2, and the Har Harif. Dallas: Southern Methodist University, pp. 6179.Google Scholar
Rabinovich, R. & Hovers, E. 2004. Faunal analysis from Amud Cave: Preliminary results and interpretations. International Journal Osteoarchaeology 14: 287306. doi:10.1002/oa.762CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rebollo, N.R., Cohen-Ofri, I., Popovitz-Biro, R. et al. 2008. Structural characterization of charcoal exposed to high and low pH: Implications for 14C sample preparation and charcoal preservation. Radiocarbon 50: 289307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rebollo, N.R., Weiner, S., Brock, F. et al. 2011. New radiocarbon dating of the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic in Kebara Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 2424–33. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.05.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rink, W.J., Schwarcz, H.P., Lee, H.K. et al. 2001. Electron spin Resonance (ESR) and thermal ionization mass spectrometric (TIMS) 230Th/234U dating of teeth in Middle Paleolithic layers at Amud Cave, Israel. Geoarchaeology 16: 701–17. doi:10.1002/gea.1017CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., Buhay, W.M., Grün, R. et al. 1989. ESR dating of the Neanderthal site, Kebara Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 16: 653659. doi:10.1016/0305-4403(89)90029-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shea, J.J. 2013. Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic of the Near East: A Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Speth, J.D. 2013. Middle Paleolithic Large-Mammal Hunting in the Southern Levant. In Zooarchaeology and Modern Human Origins: Human Hunting Behavior during the Later Pleistocene, ed. Speth, J.D., Clark, J.L.. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Speth, J.D. & Clark, J.L. 2006. Hunting and overhunting in the Levantine Late Middle Palaeolithic. Before Farming 3: 142.Google Scholar
Stiner, M.C. 2009. Prey choice, site occupation intensity & economic diversity in the Middle–early Upper Palaeolithic at the Üçağizli Caves, Turkey. Before Farming 2009: 120. doi:10.3828/bfarm.2009.3.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stutz, A.J., Shea, J.J., Rech, J.A. et al. 2015. Early Upper Paleolithic chronology in the Levant: New ABOx-SC accelerator mass spectrometry results from the Mughr el-Hamamah Site, Jordan. Journal of Human Evolution 85: 157–73. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.008Google Scholar
Torfstein, A., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M. & Enzel, Y. 2013. Impacts of abrupt climate changes in the Levant from Last Glacial Dead Sea levels. Quaternary Science Reviews 69: 17. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.02.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valladas, H., Joron, J.L., Valladas, G. et al. 1987. Thermoluminescence dates for the Neanderthal burial site at Kebara in Israel. Nature 330: 159–60. doi:10.1038/330159a0Google Scholar
Weiner, S., Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. 1993. Bone preservation in Kebara Cave, Israel using on-site Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. Journal of Archaeological Science 20: 613–27. doi:10.1006/jasc.1993.1037CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×