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RENEWED EXCAVATIONS

A new series of excavations was conducted jointly by O. Bar-Yosef, L. Meignen, and B. Vandermeersch at Hayonim Cave from 1992 to 2000. The primary goal of the project was to uncover, study, and date the full Mousterian sequence, which, as discovered in the last season, lies above an Acheulo-Yabrudian layer of unknown depth. Only a few additional squares of the Natufian deposits were excavated during these years. Previous observations during the late 1970s suggested that the upper part of layer E contained an industry resembling the one from Qafzeh Cave (which was dated to c. 90,000 years ago). The material and lithics retrieved then in a deep sounding next to the western wall contained numerous elongated blanks similar to those of the Tabun D assemblage.

The areas excavated in 1992–2000 were the deep sounding, an area near the cave entrance, and the central area inside the main chamber. The excavations yielded well-preserved faunal remains and rich assemblages of stone tools. The systematic mineralogical mapping of the deposits at intervals of 5–10 cm demonstrates the uneven effects of diagenesis, mainly in a patch running diagonally across the central area. Along this patch, diagenesis affected the preservation of bones, but not the distribution of lithics. The well-defined hearth areas resemble those identified in Kebara Cave and micromorphological and geochemical analyses have shown that the majority of the sediments are anthropogenic in origin.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

STRATIGRAPHY. The exposed stratigraphy of Hayonim Cave can be summarized as follows:

Layer A. Layer A consists of ashy deposits c. 3 m thick. Radiocarbon dates, one coin from the second century CE, a small collection of Roman-Byzantine sherds, and a glass furnace suggest that the accumulation spans the period from c. 200 CE to the present.

Layer B. The Natufian complex includes a series of built rooms, graves, a kiln, domestic midden, and evidence for various activities including bone tool production. The built-up rooms stretch mainly across the illuminated part of the cave chamber, near the entrance. The thickness of this layer varies from 0.10–1.20 m. It is stratigraphically subdivided into five phases of building and refilling. On the basis of lithic typological comparisons, the main occupation took place during the Early Natufian period. It ended with an ephemeral use of the site dated to the Late Natufian period. While the overall age of the Natufian culture in the Levant ranges from 14,500 to 11,600 bp (calibrated), two charcoal samples that produced radiocarbon dates at Hayonim Cave suggest a date for the Early Natufian occupation of around 14,500–14,100 bp (calibrated).

Layer C. A Kebaran deposit about 2.5 m thick, confined to the entrance of the cave, consists of loose, reddish, granular silt and clay, locally cemented with calcite and rich in bones and lithics. The sediments were a mixture of reworked deposits derived from the destruction of the Mousterian layers, especially at the base, and an accumulation from the Kebaran period, probably around 19,000–16,000 bp (calibrated). The lithic industry is characterized by the production of microliths. The main types are the curved micropoints and the Kebara points, also known as obliquely truncated backed bladelets.

Layer D. Mostly confined to the central area, layer D is 0.35–0.55 m thick and composed of an ashy matrix with bone middens. It contains a rich lithic industry, and a few well-structured hearths. Radiocarbon dates indicate an age of 29,000–27,000 bp (uncalibrated) for this Levantine Aurignacian assemblage, which is characterized, like other Aurignacian collections, by a rich bone and antler industry, carinated and nosed flake scrapers, and Dufour bladelets.

Layer E. Layer E consists predominantly of anthropogenic sediments including hearths, ash, and organic matter, but locally contains well-defined clay-rich geogenic lenses. The sediments are generally horizontal but dipping increases toward the rear of the cave, with inclinations to the north and northwest reflecting one or more sinkholes in the back of the cave. The bones were preserved in the central area, except for the diagonal patch (about 40–50 cm wide), and in the upper part of the deep sounding. The occurrence of travertine stalagmites in the upper part of layer E is related to a wetter period. The Mousterian industries in the upper layer E resemble the Tabun C-type Mousterian, while the lower layer E is generally similar to the Tabun D type. The thermoluminescence ages of lower layer E range from 130,000/150,000–180,000 bp (uncalibrated).

Layer F. There is a clear nonconformity between the base of layer E and the top of layer F. The deposits of layer F are yellowish-brown, predominantly geogenic, and consist of extremely diagenetically altered clay, silica, and quartz silt. Except for the top part, the layer was mainly exposed in the deep sounding. Phosphatization is widespread in this layer and seems to have been the main cause for the dissolution of most of the bones. The assemblage is attributed to the Tabun D type on the basis of the dominance of elongated blanks produced by the Mousterian knappers. Preliminary thermoluminescence dates place this assemblage at around 220,000 years ago.

Layer G. Below a zone indicating stratigraphic unconformity, only the uppermost part of this layer, about 1 m thick, was exposed. The top levels are pinkish-gray, hard, gritty silt, rich in layered opaline seed coats. Below this is a massive unit consisting of mottled brown and yellow-brown silt and seed coats, but in much lower abundance than in the overlying layer. Some charcoal flecks and abundant bird gastroliths occur in this unit, along with traces of millimeter-sized grains of gray silt. A rich Acheulo-Yabrudian lithic industry with bifaces and Quina-type (thick) sidescrapers was uncovered. No dates are yet available for this layer but similar industries from Mount Carmel date to 350,000–270,000 years ago.

THE LITHIC INDUSTRIES. The new information concerning the lithic industries at Hayonim Cave focuses on lower layers E and F. The flint and chert nodules brought to the cave were retrieved from geological outcrops within a 10 km radius. Only a few pieces originated 20 km away, with very rare lithics from even further away (30–40 km). Most of the stone tools were produced on elongated blanks (Tabun D type) from essentially unidirectional cores, with limited evidence for bi-directional flaking. Core reduction is often Levallois in its technical concept of the volume of the nodule, resulting in a semi-prismatic core geometry close to that which characterizes the Upper Paleolithic blade industries. The blanks are classified as blades and elongated points. The retouched tools include elongated points, sidescrapers, and burins.

Assemblages similar to the Tabun D type are found at Tor Abu Sif and Ṣaḥba in the Judean Desert; Rosh ‘En Mor and Naḥal Aqev 3 in the Negev Highlands; ‘Ein Difla in Wadi Hassa in Jordan; and Yabrud I, Jerf Ajla, and Douara Cave in Syria. There is a general chronological contemporaneity between these assemblages and the so-called Hummalian in the El-Kowm basin (of northeastern Syria). The Tabun D-type industry probably spanned the time from 270,000 through 180,000 years ago.

THE FAUNAL ASSEMBLAGES. The faunal assemblages from the deep sequence of layers E and F consist mainly of gazelle, fallow deer, and aurochs, with minor quantities of wild boar, roe deer, rhinoceros, hare, some reptiles, and a few birds. There are numerous remains of tortoises.

CONCLUSIONS

The relatively small quantities of bones and the low densities of artifacts (larger than 2 cm) per cu m, versus the large assemblages of microvertebrates (which result from the activities of barn owls), as well as the thermoluminescence dates, lead to the conclusion that human occupation at Hayonim Cave was ephemeral during this long period. Even the hearths are often thinner when compared to later Mousterian sites such as Kebara; and instead of branches and trunks, the campers at Hayonim used small, dry branches. The suggested interpretation for these observations is that human groups were more mobile during the Early Mousterian period and overall population densities in the region were much lower than in later times.

OFER BAR-YOSEF

Main publications: O. Zackheim, Provenance of Ochre from the Natufian Assemblages of El-Wad, Eynan and Hayonim (M.A. thesis), Haifa 1997 (Eng. abstract); M. C. Stiner et al., The Faunas of Hayonim Cave, Israel: A 200,000-Year Record of Paleolithic Diet, Demography, and Society (American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 48), Cambridge, MA 2005.

Studies: D. E. Lieberman, Paléorient 17/1 (1991), 47–57; A. Belfer-Cohen (& E. Hovers), Current Anthropology 33 (1992), 463–471; id., BA 36 (1993), 128–131; id., The Archaeology of Death, Oxford 1995, 9–16; B. Boyd, Archaeological Review from Cambridge 11 (1992), 19–38; H. Khalaily & Y. Goren, Mitekufat Ha’even 25 (1993), 132–144; O. Bar-Yosef, ESI 14 (1994), 21; 16 (1997), 25–27 (et al.); 19 (1999), 8*–9* (et al.); 110 (1999), 9*–10*; id., The Last Neanderthals, The First Anatomically Modern Humans: A Tale about the Human Diversity: Cultural Change and Human Evolution—The Crisis at 40 KA bp (eds. E. Carbonell & M. Vaquero), Catalunya 1996, 79–94; id., OEANE, 2, New York 1997, 486–487; id. (et al.), AJA 102 (1998), 761; id., Evolutionary Anthropology 6 (1998), 159–177; id. (& A. Belfer-Cohen), Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 49 (1998), 247–263; id. Antiquity 73/280 (1999), 402–410; id., The Geography of Neandertals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean (Peabody Museum Bulletin 8; eds. O. Bar-Yosef et & D. Pilbeam), Cambridge, MA 2000, 107–156; N. Mercier et al., Israel Journal of Chemistry 35 (1995), 137–141; id. (& H. Valladas), Echanges de diffusion dans la préhistoire méditerranéenne. Actes des Congrès Nationaux des Sociétés Historiques et Scientifiques, 121e, Nice 1996. (ed. B. Vandermeersch), Paris 2003, 29–39; A. Rosen-Miller, BA 58 (1995), 170; F. R. Valla, The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land, London 1995, 169–189; id., Neo-Lithics 1995/2, 6–7; id., Dorothy Garrod and the Progress of the Palaeolithic (Dorothy Garrod Fest.; eds. W. Davies & R. Charles), Oxford 1999, 224–241; id., Premiers paysans du monde: naissance des agricultures (Collection des hesperides; Civilisations de l’Europe au neolithique et a l’âge du bronze; ed. J. Guilaine), Paris 2000, 13–30; id., Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor (eds. N. Goren-Inbar & J. D. Speth), Oxford 2004, 207–220; id., Echanges de diffusion dans la préhistoire méditerranéenne (op. cit.), Paris 2003, 15–27; S. Weiner et al., Israel Journal of Chemistry 35 (1995), 143–154; id., The Practical Impact of Science on Near Eastern and Aegean Archaeology (Wiener Laboratory Publications 3; eds. S. Pike & S. Gitin), London 1999, 85–90; id., JAS 29 (2002), 1289–1308; P. C. Anderson & F. R. Valla, Neolithic Chipped Stone Industries of the Fertile Crescent, Berlin 1996, 341–362; S. Schiegl et al., JAS 23 (1996), 763–781; id., Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 43 (1994), 267–278; A. Marshack, Beyond Art: Pleistocene Image and Symbol (Wattis: Symposium Series in Anthropology; Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 23; eds. Margaret W. Conkey et al.), San Francisco, CA 1997, 53–91; id., La grotte d’Oekuezini: evolution du paleolithique final du sud-ouest de l’Anatolie (Études et recherches Archéologiques de l’Universite de Liege 96; eds. I. Yalcinkaya et al.), Liege 2002, 295–299; L. Meignen, Bulletin du Centre de Recherche Français de Jérusalem 1 (1997), 38–45; id., Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia (eds. T. Akazawa et al.), New York 1998, 165–180; id. (et al.), Paléorient 26/2 (2000), 9–22; id., JHE 42 (2002), A23; R. Rabinovich (& O. Bar-Yosef), Archaeozoologia 8 (1997), 11–52; id., Archaeozoology of the Near East, 3, Groningen 1998, 45–71; id., Patterns of Animal Exploitation and Subsistence in Israel during the Upper Palaeolithic and Epi-Palaeolithic (40,000–12,500 bp), Based upon Selected Case Studies (Ph.D. diss.), Jerusalem 1998 (Eng. abstract); R. Shahack-Cross (& O. Bar-Yosef), JAS 24 (1997), 439–446; id. (& E. Tchernov), Geoarchaeology 14 (1999), 1–13; E. Tchernov & F. R. Valla, JAS 24 (1997), 65–95; P. Goldberg & O. Bar-Yosef, Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia (eds. T. Akazawa et al.), New York 1998, 107–125; M. C. Stiner (& E. Tchernov), ibid., 241–262; id., Science 283/5399 (1999), 190–194; id. (& S. L. Kuhn), JAS 28 (2001), 643–659; id. (& N. D. Munro), Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 9 (2002), 181–214; id., Bulletin of the American School of Prehistoric Research, Peabody Museum (in press); R. Barkai, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 65 (1999), 303–318; id., Flint and Stone Axes as Cultural Markers: Socio-Economic Changes as Reflected in Holocene Flint Tool Industries of the Southern Levant (Ph.D. diss.), Tel Aviv 2000 (Eng. abstract); id., ibid. (Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 11), Berlin 2005, 86–90; R. Buxo i Capdevila, Prehistory of Agriculture: New Experimental and Ethnographic Approaches (University of California Institute of Archaeology Monograph 40; ed. P. C. Anderson), Los Angeles, CA 1999, 153–155; N. D. Munro, Zooarchaeology of the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary (ed. J. D. Driver), Oxford 1999, 37–45; id., A Prelude to Agriculture: Game Use and Occupation Intensity during the Natufian Period in the Southern Levant (Ph.D. diss.), Tucson, AZ 2001; id., Current Anthropology 45 (2004) Suppl., s5–s33; id. (& G. Bar-Oz), JAS 32 (2005), 223–239; Y. Nathan et al., Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 48 (1999), 235–245; M. Weinstein-Evron et al., Archaeometry 41 (1999), 267–273; C. Delage (et al.), JHE 38 (2000), A10–A11; id., ASOR Annual Meeting Abstract Book, Boulder, CO 2001, 31–32; id., Les resources lithiques dans le nord d’Israël: la question des territoires d’approvisionnement Natoufiens confrontée a l’hypothèse de leur sédentarité (Ph.D. diss.), Paris 2001; id. (& J. Sunseri), Lithic Technology 29 (2004), 161–173; M. Chazan, Paléorient 27/1 (2001), 81–88; V. Eshed, From Foraging to Farming in the Holocene (The Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period 8,300–6,000 B.C.) in the Southern Levant: The Skeletal Evidence (Ph.D. diss.), Tel Aviv 2001; id. et al., American Journal of Physical Anthropology 123 (2004), 303–315; 124 (2004), 315–329; H. Valladas et al., Rencontres Internationales d’Archéoloige et d’Histoire d’Antibes 21. Actes 19–21.10.2000. (eds. J. -N. Barrandon et al.), Antibes 2001, 177–186; L. Dubreuil, Étude fonctionnelle des outils de broyage Natoufiens: Nouvelles perspectives sur l’emergence de l’agriculture au Proche-Orient (Ph.D. diss.), Bordeaux 2002, 245–295; R. M. Albert et al., JAS 30 (2003), 461–480; F. Bocquentin, Pratiques funéraires, paramètres biologiques et identités culturelles au Natoufien: une analyse archéo-anthropologique (Ph.D. diss.), Bordeaux 2003; D. O. Henry, Neanderthals in the Levant: Behavioral Organization and the Beginnings of Human Modernity (New Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology; ed. D. O. Henry), London 2003, 12–30; G. Le Dosseur, Préhistoire Anthropologie Méditerranéennes 12 (2003), 115–127; More Than Meets the Eye: Studies on Upper Palaeolithic Diversity in the Near East (eds. A. N. Goring-Morris & A. Belfer-Cohen), Oxford 2003, var.; A. Ronen et al., Lithic Technology 28 (2003), 107–112; J. J. Shea, Journal of World Prehistory 17 (2003), 313–394; K. Bartl, Die spätepipaläolitische und frühneolithische Entwicklung im westlichen Vorderasien (Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 10), Berlin 2004, Chapter 9; W. J. Rink et al., JAS 31 (2004), 953–964; S. J. M. Davis, ibid. 32 (2005), 1408–1416.