Abstract
Sefunim Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel was previously excavated in the 1960s and is one of the main sites known for the occurrence of the cultural entity termed the Levantine Aurignacian. Renewed excavations at Sefunim Cave provide new insights into the Late Pleistocene occupations of the site and reveal a rich Epipaleolithic layer, in addition to the previously recorded Middle to Upper Paleolithic sequence. The recent work helps us re-evaluate the record of cultural and environmental shifts within the Upper Paleolithic and early Epipaleolithic sequence and places the results of earlier excavations in a higher resolution context in terms of human-environment relationships. The current work reports the first radiometric dating results from the Upper Paleolithic layers at this key site. In addition, we provide a preliminary description of finds collected during the new campaigns. The finds encompass both the material culture and environmental setting of Sefunim, and include investigations of micromorphology, lithics, use-wear, fauna, microfauna, ocher and shells. Important new findings include the identification of rich symbolic activity at the site. In the Levantine Aurignacian assemblage it is represented primarily by the presence of numerous shell ornaments, a trend which parallels Upper Paleolithic sites of the northern Levant. Other manifestations of symbolic activity are represented by ocher exploitation throughout the sequence and a unique engraved artifact from the Epipaleolithic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 106-125 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Quaternary International |
| Volume | 464 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 10 Jan 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The excavations were supported by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology , University of Haifa and ROCEEH , Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities . Funding came from several additional sources. We thank the Leakey Foundation and the Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation for their support of the excavations. Excavations were conducted with the permission of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (license 5121/15) and Israel Antiquities Authority (license G/64 2015). We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments which helped improve this manuscript. Thanks are also due to: Jonathan Baines for cleaning and preparing the charcoal samples at University of Tübingen; Elisabetta Boaretto for teaching us how to extract collagen at the laboratories at the Weizman Institute; Guy Bar-Oz for facilitating access to the comparative collections at University of Haifa; and various students from the Universities of Haifa, Tübingen, Tel Aviv and Hebrew University for volunteering their time to work with the field crews between 2013 and 2015.
Funding Information:
The excavations were supported by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa and ROCEEH, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Funding came from several additional sources. We thank the Leakey Foundation and the Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation for their support of the excavations. Excavations were conducted with the permission of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (license 5121/15) and Israel Antiquities Authority (license G/64 2015). We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments which helped improve this manuscript. Thanks are also due to: Jonathan Baines for cleaning and preparing the charcoal samples at University of T?bingen; Elisabetta Boaretto for teaching us how to extract collagen at the laboratories at the Weizman Institute; Guy Bar-Oz for facilitating access to the comparative collections at University of Haifa; and various students from the Universities of Haifa, T?bingen, Tel Aviv and Hebrew University for volunteering their time to work with the field crews between 2013 and 2015.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Earth-Surface Processes