Hayonim Cave
Encyclopedia
HaYonim Cave is a cave located in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level, in the Upper Galilee
, Israel
. The site had substantial occupation during the Middle Paleolithic
Mousterian
period, from 250,000 years ago to 100,000 years ago, and later, during the Natufian period around 12,000 years ago.
The Mousterian occupation of the cave included Levallois debitage and early Middle Paleolithic blade technology, as well as a series of hearths.
The Natufian occupation of the cave featured circular rooms with prepared floors, with a thick midden of lithics, groundstone objects, and worked bone. There were several hearths, and single graves located in abandoned rooms or outside of inhabited rooms.
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The site had substantial occupation during the Middle Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...
Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
period, from 250,000 years ago to 100,000 years ago, and later, during the Natufian period around 12,000 years ago.
The Mousterian occupation of the cave included Levallois debitage and early Middle Paleolithic blade technology, as well as a series of hearths.
The Natufian occupation of the cave featured circular rooms with prepared floors, with a thick midden of lithics, groundstone objects, and worked bone. There were several hearths, and single graves located in abandoned rooms or outside of inhabited rooms.