Kebara Cave

Kebara Cave
Neanderthal Burial of Kebara
Location	Zikhron Ya'akov, Israel
Elevation	60 metres (200 ft) above sea level
Discovery	Early 1930s
Geology	Limestone

Kebara Cave (Hebrew: מערת כבארה Me'arat Kebbara, Arabic: مغارة الكبارة Mugharat al-Kabara) is an Israeli limestone cave locality of the Wadi Kebara, situated at 60 – 65 metres ASL on the western escarpment of the Carmel Range, in the Ramat Hanadiv preserve of Zichron Yaakov. The cave was inhabited between 60,000 - 48,000 BP and is famous for its excavated finds of hominid remains, made under the direction of Professor Ofer Bar-Yosef.

Dorothy Garrod and Francis Turville-Petre excavated in the cave in the early 1930s, but by far the most significant discovery made at Kebara Cave was that in 1982 of the most complete Neanderthal skeleton found to date. Nicknamed "Moshe" and dating to circa 60,000 BP, the skeleton preserved a large part of one individual's torso (vertebral column, ribs and pelvis). The cranium and most of the lower limbs were missing. The hyoid bone was also preserved, and was the first Neanderthal hyoid bone found.

The Kebaran culture is named after the site.

See also

• Ramat HaNadiv
• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominid fossils
• List of transitional fossils
• List of notable fossils

Further reading

Selected bibliography, in order of publication:

• Schick, T. & Stekelis, M. "Mousterian Assemblages in Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel", Eretz-Israel 13 (1977), pp. 97–150.
• Bar-Yosef, O. & B. Vandermeersch, et alii, "The Excavations in Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel", Current Anthropology 33.5 (1992), pp. 497–546.
• Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O., "Site formation processes in Kebara and Hayonim Caves and their significance in Levantine Prehistoric caves", in T. Akazawa, K. Aoki and O. Bar-Yosef (eds), Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, New York & London: Plenum Press, 1998, pp.?
• Albert, Rosa M., Steve Weiner, Ofer Bar-Yosef, and Liliane Meignen, "Phytoliths of the Middle Palaeolithic Deposits of Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel: Study of the Plant Materials Used for Fuel and Other Purposes", Journal of Archaeological Science 27 (2000), pp. 931–947.
• Lev, Efraim, Kislev, Mordechai E. & Bar-Yosef, Ofer, "Mousterian Vegetal Food in Kebara Cave, Mt Carmel", Journal of Archaeological Science 32 (2005), pp. 475–484.

External links

• Ramat Hanadiv - the Rothschild Memorial public gardens at Ramat HaNadiv preserve the Kebara Cave within their boundaries for visitors
• Kebara Cave at About.com