Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
Department of Bible, Archaeology and the Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
J Hum Evol. 2021 Nov;160:102707. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102707. Epub 2019 Dec 28.
For more than a century, prehistoric research has focused on cave sites and rock shelters, mostly because of good preservation of organic remains associated with stratified anthropogenic layers. Manot Cave in the Western Galilee, Israel offers the possibility of studying prehistoric assemblages in pristine condition because of the collapse of the cave entrance some 30 thousand years ago. Nine years of excavations have uncovered an Early Upper Paleolithic archaeological sequence. Area C, situated at the bottom of the talus, was exposed to fast and slow depositional and postdepositional processes affecting sediment accumulation. The central part of area C was selected for this study, as it was least disturbed. Following a technotypological analysis, and taking postdepositional processes into consideration, the assemblages were defined and assigned to the Levantine Aurignacian, and Ahmarian traditions. The two archaeological horizons are separated by a mixed horizon within which indicative artifacts of both traditions alternately appear. The Ahmarian assemblage, dated to 46-42 ka cal BP, fits within the northern Mediterranean Ahmarian sites, which technotypologically differs from and is currently dated earlier than the southern desert region Ahmarian sites. The main technotypological characteristics of the assemblage from the Levantine Aurignacian Horizon, dated to 38-34 ka cal BP, are comparable to those from Manot Cave area E layers V-VI, and Ksâr 'Akil levels VII-VIII. Yet, several technotypological elements seem more compatible with the unnamed assemblage from Ksâr 'Akil levels XI-XIII and possibly layer IX from area E.
一个多世纪以来，史前研究一直集中在洞穴遗址和岩棚，主要是因为与分层人为层相关的有机遗骸保存良好。以色列加利利西部的马诺特洞穴由于大约 30 千年前洞穴入口的坍塌，为研究原始史前组合体提供了可能性。九年的挖掘揭示了一个早更新世晚期的考古序列。位于碎石底部的 C 区暴露于快速和慢速沉积以及影响沉积物积累的后沉积过程中。由于受干扰最小，选择 C 区的中心部分进行这项研究。在进行技术类型分析并考虑后沉积过程之后，确定了组合体并将其分配到黎凡特奥瑞纳文化和阿马兰传统中。这两个考古层由一个混合层隔开，其中两个传统的指示性文物交替出现。阿马兰组合体的年代为 46-42 千年前 cal BP，属于与南部沙漠地区的阿马兰遗址在技术类型上不同且目前年代更早的北地中海阿马兰遗址。来自黎凡特奥瑞纳文化层的组合体的主要技术类型特征，年代为 38-34 千年前 cal BP，与来自马诺特洞穴 E 区的 V-VI 层和 Ksâr 'Akil 水平 VII-VIII 的特征相似。然而，几个技术类型元素似乎更符合 Ksâr 'Akil 水平 XI-XIII 的未命名组合体和可能来自 E 区的 IX 层。
