Naḥal Ḥadera V is located on the Coastal Plain, northwest of the modern city of Ḥadera and c. 500 m east of the present Mediterranean shore. It lies on a small hilltop in close proximity to the southern bank of Naḥal Ḥadera. The site is attributed to the Kebaran cultural complex of the early Epipaleolithic, dated to the end of the last ice age, some 22,500–17,500 years ago (calibrated). It is a large and intensively occupied site by Epipaleolithic standards, with an estimated area of at least 500 sq m and an archaeological deposit over 1 m deep. The deposit is in a sand dune lying directly on a kurkar unit.
A test excavation conducted in the early 1970s by E. C. Saxon, G. Martin, O. Bar-Yosef, and J. L. Philips revealed a sequence of six stratigraphic units, of which at least two were characterized as occupation levels. During the renewed field seasons in 1997–1999, which were conducted by A. Gopher and R. Barkai on behalf of Tel Aviv University, a total area of 84 sq m was excavated in the central (highest) part of the site, next to the 1970s test excavation, and in a lower part of the site to the south. A hut-like feature was revealed in the latest phase of the sequence, as were four to five consecutive living floors to the south and west of it, indicating recurrent occupation. Numerous flint and bone items were recovered. Each excavation unit was of 0.25 sq m to a maximal depth of 5 cm. All sediments were sieved (dry and wet) through 2.4 mm and 1 mm meshes, respectively. Horizontally lying groundstone tools and concentrations of flints and bones indicated activity areas. Lithic and bone assemblages were obtained from all occupational phases, including the lowermost and uppermost levels.
The lithic assemblages include an extraordinarily large number of flint items, studied by R. Shimelmitz. The assemblage is dominated by microblade technology and is rich in small cores, debitage, and microliths. The most common microlithic tool type is the obliquely truncated backed bladelet (Kebaran point), typical of early Epipaleolithic industries. Minor technological and typological differences were detected between the different phases of the stratigraphic sequence, supporting a proposal that all human occupations at the site can be attributed to the Kebaran technological complex.
The rich faunal assemblage was examined by G. Bar-Oz. The two most heavily exploited prey species at the site were mountain gazelles and fallow deer. The presence of cut marks on the bones suggests that parts of the butchering processes took place on site.
The site was dated by direct luminescence, using the single aliquot additive-dose (SAA) method, applied to sand-sized quartz extracts to determine past equivalent doses. The luminescence age of the kurkar at the base of the site is 40,500±6,300. The major human occupation at the site is dated to between 21,300 and 18,000 bp (calibrated), according well with the middle to late part of the Kebaran sequence and with the lithic analysis of the Naḥal Ḥadera V assemblages.
AVI GOPHER, RAN BARKAI
Main publication: R. Shimelmitz, Technological Aspects of the Flint Industry from the Kebaran Site Nahal Hadera V (M.A. thesis), Tel Aviv 2002 (Eng. abstract).
Studies: O. Bar-Yosef, The Epi-Palaeolithic Cultures of Palestine (Ph.D. diss.), Jerusalem 1970; E. C. Saxon, Prehistoric Economies of the Israel and Algerian Littorales: 18,000–8,000 B.P. (Ph.D. diss.), Cambridge 1975; id. (et al.), Paléorient 4 (1978), 253–266; H. J. Pomerantz, Prelude to Domestication in the Levant: Kebaran and Natufian Ecology (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University 1979), Ann Arbor, MI 1979, 135–136; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of Archaeology, Activities of the Department of Prehistory 1970–1980, Jerusalem 1980; R. Barkai & A. Gopher, ESI 113 (2001), 35*; G. Bar-Oz (& T. Dayan), Archaeozoology of the Near East 5: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on the Archaeozoology of Southwestern Asia and Adjacent Areas (Center for Archaeological Research and Consultancy, Groningen, The Netherlands, Publication 62; eds. H. Buitenhuis et al.), Groningen 2002, 40–47; id. (& T. Dayan), JAS 29 (2002), 145–156; id., Cultural and Ecological Changes at the End of the Last Glacial in the Central Coastal Plain of Israel (Ph.D. diss.), Tel Aviv 2002 (Eng. abstract); D. I. Godfrey-Smith et al., Geoarchaeology 18 (2003), 461–475; N. D. Munro & G. Bar-Oz, JAS 32 (2005), 223–239.
Other Remains, Naḥal Ḥadera
A. Ronen, TA 3 (1976), 16–30; C. Fuchs, JFA 4 (1977), 171–179; E. Siegelmann, RB 85 (1978), 103–104; I. Levi Sala, A Study of Microscopic Polish on Flint Implements (BAR/IS 629), Oxford 1996; J. Paterson, Levant 31 (1999), 1–17; Y. Ne’eman et al., Map of Mikhmoret (52); Map of Hadera (53) (Archaeological Survey of Israel), Jerusalem 2000; J. Sharvit & E. Galili, ESI 20 (2000), 38*.
Naḥal Ḥadera V is located on the Coastal Plain, northwest of the modern city of Ḥadera and c. 500 m east of the present Mediterranean shore. It lies on a small hilltop in close proximity to the southern bank of Naḥal Ḥadera. The site is attributed to the Kebaran cultural complex of the early Epipaleolithic, dated to the end of the last ice age, some 22,500–17,500 years ago (calibrated). It is a large and intensively occupied site by Epipaleolithic standards, with an estimated area of at least 500 sq m and an archaeological deposit over 1 m deep. The deposit is in a sand dune lying directly on a kurkar unit.
