Kebara Cave (Hebrew: מערת כבארה ''Me'arat Kebbara'', Arabic: مغارة الكبارة ''Mugharat al-Kabara'') is an Israeli limestone cave locality in Wadi Kebara, situated at above sea level on the western escarpment of the Carmel Range, in the Ramat HaNadiv preserve of Zichron Yaakov.

History

The cave was inhabited between 60,000 and 48,000 BP and is famous for its excavated finds of hominid remains, made under the direction of Professor Ofer Bar-Yosef. Dorothy Garrod and Francis Turville-Petre excavated in the cave in the early 1930s, but by far the most significant discovery made at Kebara Cave was Kebara 2 in 1982, the most complete postcranial Neanderthal skeleton found to date. Nicknamed "Moshe" and dating to ''circa'' 60,000 BP, the skeleton preserved a large part of one individual's torso (vertebral column, ribs and pelvis). The cranium and most of the lower limbs were missing. The hyoid bone was also preserved, and was the first Neanderthal hyoid bone found.Mithen, S.(2006). The Singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind, and body. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. The Kebaran culture is named after the site.


See also

* Ramat HaNadiv * Archaeology in Israel * List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)'' * List of hominid fossils * List of transitional fossils * List of notable fossils

References



Further reading

* Schick, T. & Stekelis, M. "Mousterian Assemblages in Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel", ''Eretz-Israel'' 13 (1977), pp. 97–150. * Bar-Yosef, O. & B. Vandermeersch, ''et alii'', "The Excavations in Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel", ''Current Anthropology'' 33.5 (1992), pp. 497–546. * Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O., "Site formation processes in Kebara and Hayonim Caves and their significance in Levantine Prehistoric caves", in T. Akazawa, K. Aoki and O. Bar-Yosef (eds), ''Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia'', New York & London: Plenum Press, 1998, pp.? * Albert, Rosa M., Steve Weiner, Ofer Bar-Yosef, and Liliane Meignen, "Phytoliths of the Middle Palaeolithic Deposits of Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel: Study of the Plant Materials Used for Fuel and Other Purposes", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' 27 (2000), pp. 931–947. * Lev, Efraim, Kislev, Mordechai E. & Bar-Yosef, Ofer, "Mousterian Vegetal Food in Kebara Cave, Mt Carmel", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' 32 (2005), pp. 475–484.

External links


Ramat Hanadiv
- the Rothschild Memorial public gardens at Ramat HaNadiv preserve the Kebara Cave within their boundaries for visitors
Kebara Cave
at About.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kebara Category:Caves of Israel Category:Neanderthal sites Category:Prehistoric sites in Israel Category:Archaeological type sites