Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- 8 Chronologies of Late Quaternary Coral Reefs and Lake Sediments from the Red Sea and Dead Sea Rift Valley
- 9 Sedimentology of the Lacustrine Formations in the Dead Sea Basin
- 10 The Amora Formation, Dead Sea Basin
- 11 The Stratigraphy and Chronology of the Samra Formation
- 12 Lake Lisan
- 13 Dead Sea Lake Level Changes and Levant Palaeoclimate
- 14 Pliocene–Pleistocene Water Bodies and Associated Deposits in Southern Israel and Southern Jordan
- 15 Quaternary Evolution of Caves and Associated Palaeoenvironments of the Southern Levant
- 16 Geoarchaeology of Levantine Prehistoric Caves
- 17 Climate and Environment Reconstructions Based on Speleothems from the Levant
- 18 Speleothems from Lebanon
- 19 Late Quaternary Palaeoenvironments in Northern Levant (Lebanon and Syria)
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- Index
- Plate section
- References
16 - Geoarchaeology of Levantine Prehistoric Caves
from Part II: - Palaeoclimates
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2017
Book contents
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Quaternary of the Levant
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Quaternary of the Levant
- Part I: The Evolution of Current Landscapes and Basins
- Part II: Palaeoclimates
- 8 Chronologies of Late Quaternary Coral Reefs and Lake Sediments from the Red Sea and Dead Sea Rift Valley
- 9 Sedimentology of the Lacustrine Formations in the Dead Sea Basin
- 10 The Amora Formation, Dead Sea Basin
- 11 The Stratigraphy and Chronology of the Samra Formation
- 12 Lake Lisan
- 13 Dead Sea Lake Level Changes and Levant Palaeoclimate
- 14 Pliocene–Pleistocene Water Bodies and Associated Deposits in Southern Israel and Southern Jordan
- 15 Quaternary Evolution of Caves and Associated Palaeoenvironments of the Southern Levant
- 16 Geoarchaeology of Levantine Prehistoric Caves
- 17 Climate and Environment Reconstructions Based on Speleothems from the Levant
- 18 Speleothems from Lebanon
- 19 Late Quaternary Palaeoenvironments in Northern Levant (Lebanon and Syria)
- Part III: Archaeology of Human Evolution
- Part IV: Palaeoecology
- Part V: Quaternary Geomorphology
- Part VI: Humans in the Levant
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Prehistoric caves contain a wealth of information encompassing not only the geological history of the cave formation, but how they filled up. Unlike most natural geological environments caves include both geological (geogenic) processes but also those of past human and animal occupants (anthropogenic). Geogenic processes can commonly be linked to local and regional environments, whereas anthropogenic ones provide high-resolution glimpses into past human activities and behaviours. The Levant contains among the best worldwide examples of prehistoric caves and cave records; they also have been among the best-studied geoarchaeologically. This paper illustrates a number of processes that occur in Israeli caves, where they have been best studied and understood.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Quaternary of the LevantEnvironments, Climate Change, and Humans, pp. 145 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017
References
Barkai, R., Gopher, A., Lauritzen, S. & Frumkin, A. 2003. Uranium series dates from Qesem Cave, Israel, and the end of the Lower Palaeolithic. Nature 423: 977–9.Google Scholar
Berna, F. 2010. Bone alteration and diagenesis. In Scientific Methods and Cultural Heritage. An Introduction to the Application of Materials Science to Archaeometry and Conservation Science, ed. Artioli, G.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 364–7.Google Scholar
Berna, F. & Goldberg, P. 2008. Assessing Paleolithic pyrotechnology and associated hominin behavior in Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 56: 107–21.Google Scholar
Berna, F., Matthews, A. & Weiner, S. 2004. Solubilities of bone mineral from archaeological sites: The recrystallization window. Journal of Archaeological Science 31: 867–82.Google Scholar
Farrand, W.R. 1979. Chronology and palaeoenvironment of Levantine prehistoric sites as seen from sediment studies. Journal of Archaeo-logical Science 6: 369–92.Google Scholar
Frumkin, A. 1996. Structure of northern Mount Sedom salt diapir (Israel) from cave evidence and surface morphology. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 45: 73–80.Google Scholar
Frumkin, A. 2001. The Cave of the Letters sediments; indication of an early phase of the Dead Sea depression? Journal of Geology 109: 79–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, P. 1973. Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Paleoclimatology of et-Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. Ann Arbor: University of Mich-igan Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. 1978. Granulométrie de sédiment de la Grotte de Taboun, Mont-Carmel, Israël. Geologie Mediterraneenne 4: 371–83.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. 1998. Site formation processes in Kebara and Hayonim Caves and their significance in Levantine prehistoric caves. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York: Plenum, pp. 107–25.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. & Laville, H. 1988. Le contexte stratigraphique des occupations paléolithiques de la grotte de Kebara (Israël). Paléorient 14: 117–23.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. & Macphail, R. 2006. Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. & Sherwood, S.C. 2006. Deciphering human prehistory through the geoarchaeological study of cave sediments. Evolutionary Anthropology 15: 20–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, P., Laville, H. & Meignen, L. 2007. Stratigraphy and geoarchaeological history of Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel. In Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel, Part I: The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Meignen, L., American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 49. Cambridge: Peabody Museum Press, pp. 49–89.Google Scholar
Gopher, A., Barkai, R., Shimelmitz, R. et al. 2005. Qesem Cave: An Amudian site in Central Israel. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society – Mitekufat Haeven 35: 69–92.Google Scholar
Grün, R., Stringer, C., McDermott, F. et al. 2005. U-series and ESR analyses of bones and teeth relating to the human burials from Skhul. Journal of Human Evolution 49: 316–34.Google Scholar
Jelinek, A.J., Farrand, W.R., Haas, G., Horowitz, A. & Goldberg, P. 1973. New excavations at the Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, 1967–1972: A preliminary report. Paléorient 1/2: 151–83.Google Scholar
Karkanas, P. & Goldberg, P. 2010. Phosphatic features. In Interpretation of Micromorphological Features of Soils and Regoliths, ed. Stoops, V.M.G. & Mees, F.. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 521–41.Google Scholar
Karkanas, P., Bar-Yosef, O., Goldberg, P. & Weiner, S. 2000. Diagenesis in prehistoric caves: The use of minerals that form in situ to assess the completeness of the archaeological record. Journal of Archaeo-logical Science 27: 915–29.Google Scholar
Karkanas, P., Shahack-Gross, R., Ayalon, A. et al. 2007. Evidence for habitual use of fire at the end of the Lower Paleolithic: Site-formation processes at Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 53: 197–212.Google Scholar
Kuhn, S.L., Stiner, M.C., Güleç, E. et al. 2009. The early Upper Paleolithic occupations at Üçagizli Cave (Hatay, Turkey. Journal of Human Evolution 56: 87–113.Google Scholar
Madella, M., Jones, M.K., Goldberg, P., Goren, Y. & Hovers, E. 2002. Exploitation of plant resources by Neanderthals in Amud Cave (Israel): the evidence from phytolith studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 703–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meignen, L., Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. 2007. The hearths at Kebara Cave and their role in site formation processes. In Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel, Part I: The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Meignen, L., American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 49. Cambridge: Peabody Museum Press, pp. 91–122.Google Scholar
Mercier, N., Valladas, H., Bar-Yosef, O. et al. 1993. Thermoluminescence date for the Mousterian burial site of Es-Skhul, Mt. Carmel. Journal of Archaeological Science 20: 169–74.Google Scholar
Mercier, N., Valladas, H., Froget, L. et al. 2007. Hayonim Cave: A TL-based chronology for this Levantine Mousterian sequence. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1064–77.Google Scholar
Schiegl, S., Goldberg, P., Bar-Yosef, O. & Weiner, S. 1996. Ash deposits in Hayonim and Kebara Caves, Israel: Macroscopic, microscopic and mineralogical observations, and their archaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 23: 763–81.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., Goldberg, P. & Blackwell, B. 1980. Uranium series dating of archaeological sites in Israel. Israel Journal of Earth-Sciences 29: 157–65.Google Scholar
Shahack-Gross, R., Berna, F., Karkanas, P. et al. 2014. Evidence for the repeated use of a central hearth at Middle Pleistocene (300 ky ago) Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science 44(0): 12–21.Google Scholar
Speth, J.D. & Tchernov, E. 2007. The Middle Paleolithic occupations at Kebara Cave: A faunal perspective. In Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel, Part I: The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Meignen, L., American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 49. Cambridge: Peabody Museum Press, pp. 159–254.Google Scholar
Speth, J.D., Meignen, L., Bar-Yosef, O. & Goldberg, P. 2012. Spatial organ-ization of Middle Paleolithic occupation X in Kebara Cave (Israel): concentrations of animal bones. Quaternary International 247(1): 85–102.Google Scholar
Stiner, M. 2005. Middle Paleolithic subsistence ecology in the Mediterranean region. In Transitions before the Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age, ed. Hovers, E. & Kuhn, S.. New York: Springer, pp. 213–32.Google Scholar
Stringer, C.B., Grun, R., Schwarcz, H.P. & Goldberg, P. 1989. ESR dates for the hominid burial site of Es Skhul in Israel. Nature 338: 756–8.Google Scholar
Valladas, H., Mercier, N., Joron, J.L. & Reyss, J.L. 1998. GIF laboratory dates for Middle Paleolithic Levant. In Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, ed. Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. & Bar-Yosef, O.. New York: Plenum, pp. 69–76.Google Scholar
Vandermeersch, B. 1981. Les hommes fossiles de Qafzeh (Israël). Paris: Editions du CNRS.Google 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.Google Scholar
Weiner, S., Schiegl, S., Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. 1995. Mineral assemblages in Kebara and Hayonim, Israel: excavation strategies, bone preservation and wood ash remnants. Israel Journal of Chemistry 35: 143–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiner, S., Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. 2002. Three-dimensional distribution of minerals in the sediments of Hayonim Cave, Israel: Dia-genetic processes and archaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 29: 1289–308.Google Scholar
Weiner, S., Berna, F., Cohen-Ofri, I. et al. 2007. Mineral distributions in Kebara Cave: Diagenesis and its affect on the archaeological record. In Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel, Part I: The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. & Meignen, L., American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 49. Cambridge: Peabody Museum Press, pp. 131–46.Google Scholar
Weinstein-Evron, M., Tsatskin, A., Weiner, S. et al. 2012. A window into Early Middle Paleolithic human occupational layers: Misliya Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel. PaleoAnthropology 2012: 202–28.Google Scholar
White, W.B. & Culver, D.C. (ed.) 2012. Encyclopedia of Caves, 2nd edn. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar