prehistory in palestine

Prehistory in PalestineAuthor(s): George Grant MacCurdySource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct., 1934), pp. 380-384Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/15739 .

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380 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

gradually and automatically, and the development of the biological sciences is always reflected in its membership.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic In- stitution, founded in 1930, has brought into the local scientific community a new strong group of workers, and has greatly increased the breadth of interests. Its location was determined largely by the

reputation as a scientific center given to Woods Hole by the work of the Marine Biological Laboratory and the United States Bureau of Fisheries in its station established there since 1885. Mutual advantages accrue to these three institutions by their close association and cooperation.

FRANK R. LILLIE

PREHISTORY IN PALESTINE

PALESTINE 'S place in prehistory and history runs parallel with its geographic position as a link in the chain which binds together the three continents of the Old World. Its prominent place in history and proto-history now bids fair to be equaled by its growing importance as a fertile field for prehistoric research. The attention of prehistorians was at- tracted to the Near East by Zumoffin's researches in caves on the Syrian coast near Beirut (1897) ; little was done, however, within the present limits of Palestine until after the World War. During the past dozen years much has been accomplished through educational institutions centered in Jerusalem in cooperation with and encouraged by the department of antiquities.

With Palestine as one of its pros- pective fields of operation, the American School of Prehistoric Research was founded in 1921. Our first opportunity to do some reconnaissance in Palestine came on the occasion of the Interna- tional Congress of Archeology held in Jerusalem and Beirut in April, 1926. Prospecting at a number of prehistoric sites and examination of museum collec- tions confirmed us in our previous esti- mate of the prehistoric possibilities of Palestine.

Exploitation of stone at the base of an escarpment in the Wady al-Mughara near the foot of Mount Carmel in 1928 accidentally brought to light two rare prehistoric carvings in bone. The site is less than six kilometers southeast of the Crusaders' Castle at Athlit (some

19 km south of Haifa). The discovery was reported to the Department of An- tiquities, then referred to the British School of Archeology in Jerusalem. Miss Dorothy A. E. Garrod, represent- ing the British School, then invited our school to join in the work of explorino and excavating that which turned out to be a group of caves, three of which have proved to be extremely important. The three productive caves are Mugharet el- Wad (Cave of the Valley), where the acciden-tal discovery had been made, Mugharet es-Skhfil (Cave of the Kids). and Mugharet et-Tabuin (Cave of the Oven). The first two caves have already been completely excavated. The seventh season of excavations is now in progress and will complete the excavation of the third cave (Tabuin).

The sequence of cultures in the Mug- haret el-Wad is remarkable for its com- pleteness; the series, beginning at the top, is as follows: (A) Bronze Age to Recent; (Bi) Upper Natufian (Meso- lithic) ; (B2) Lower Natufian; (C) IJpper Aurignacian of Caspian (Af ri- can) affinities; (D) Middle Aurigna- cian; (E) Lower Middle Aurignacian; (F) Layer of erosion, containingv both Aurignacian and Mousterian; (G) Upper Mousterian.

Many human skeletons were found in the two Natufian layers; numerous beads of dentalia shells and perforated animal teeth were found with some of these skeletons (Fig. 1). The Natufian deposits also yielded carved bone haftings set with microlithic flints (Fig. 8).



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 381

FIG. 1. HUMAN SKELIETON WITH CIRCLETS OF DENTALIA SHELLS ABOUT THE CRANIUM. MUGHARET EL-WAD.

LOWER NATUFIAN EPOCH.

These were obviously used as sickle blades in the harvesting of grain. It seems therefore that agriculture had its beginnings as far back as the Natufian and antedates the potter's art; for no pottery has been found in Natufian deposits.

The Mugharet es-Skhuil deposit is of Lower Mousterian age. Theodore D. McCown of our school was in charge of its excavations. It was here that he found nine Neanderthal skeletons, the largest number ever found at a single site anywhere in the world. They were embedded in a breccia so hard that, in order to remove a single skeleton, it was in some cases necessary to cut out a block of stone weighing a ton. These blocks were sent to the Royal College of Surgeons, London, where McCown has been since last September superintend-

ing the extraction of the skeletons from the stone. The work is tedious and costly, but is facilitated through the use of an electro-pneumatic chisel and an electric dental lathe. The work of pre- paring these skeletons is still far from complete. 'The expense is being borne jointly by our school and the Royal Col- lege of Surgeons. The school's share of the cost is met through a generous grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. The University of California is contributing indirectly to the joint undertaking by awarding a fellowship to McCown.

The nine skeletons from the Mugharet es-Skhal all belong to an early type of the Neanderthal race and furnish skele- tal parts, which were missing in Nean- derthal skeletons found previously in other parts of the world. The full sig-




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FIG. 2 .:S SECTIO .FCV

INTERIOPR OF MUGIIARET ET-TAB-IJN (CAVE OIF

THE OVEN ). ALL TH-E LAYERS ARE VISIBLE EX- CEPT: A ( BRONZE AGE TO RECENT ), AT THE

TOP; AND E (ACHEULIO-MOUSTERIAN ) AND F

AND G ( ACIHEULIAN AND TAYACIAN ) AT THE

BOTTOMI.

nificance of this rich harvest f romi a single cave can only comiie to lifght after the bones have been disengaged from the rock, in which they were founcd. How- ever, it is already obvious that the Neanderthalians of Palestine differed in several respects fronm those of w-estern Europe.

The relic-bearing deposits in the Mug- haret et-Tabun are thicker and nmore ex-

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FROMI LAYER C, TABINT CAVE: ( a ) NORMIA

LATERALIS, (b ) NORMTA FRONIALIS.

tensive than are those in the othler tw -o caves, and man lived for a mluch longer period of time at Tabfun. Lzayer A at the top contains potsherds, which range from Early Bronze Age dlown to modern Arab. Mlixed with these are a small number of Natuflan flints. Belows this come in turn: (B) Upper MIousterian, ( C) LJower MIousterian, ( D) Lzower Mlousterian, (E ) Acheulio-Mzousterian, a very thick layer with four distinct cul- ture-bearing levels, (F) Upper Acheu- ian, and (G) Tayacian (Fig. 2). The deposits have a total thickness of 15



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 383

"'I""

FIG. 4. CHINLESS LOWER JAW

(UPPER)-LOWER JAW FROM LAYER C, TABfYN

CAVE, RESEMBLING THOSE FOUND IN THE NEAR-BY

CAVE OF SKHICTL. NORMA LATERALIS; (LOWER)

-CHINLESS LOWER JAW OF THE SKELETON FROM

LAYER C, TABlCN CAVE.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~4. .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,. ~ ~ ~ .....

.. .. .... .

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FIG. 5. LOWER JAWS

THIE TWO LOWER JAWS FROm LAYER C, TABUJN

CAVE. NORMIA VERTICALIS

meters and represent a time period of about 100,000 years.

In the upper portion of Layer C, Miss Garrod found the skeleton of a small adult female, with a low cranial capacity (Fig. 3) and a chinless lower jaw. Some 90 centimeters deeper in the same layer, she found the massive well-pre- served lower jaw of an adult male, resembling the lower jaws of the skeletons found by McCown in the Skhiil cave (Figs. 4 and 5). In all these the chin is better developed than is usual among known Neanderthalians. There is also

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FIG. 6. ARM BONE LEFT UPPER ARM BONE (HUMERUS) OF THE

SKELETON FROM LAYER C, TABCN CAVE: (a) POSTERIOR ASPECT; (b) ANTERIOR ASPECT; (C)

VIEW OF THE SIDE NEAREST THE BODY.

a difference between the limb bones of the Tab-an skeleton and the limb bones of those from Skhal (Fig. 6). These differences represent extreme variations within the same race, combined of course with individual and sex variations.

Miss Garrod has prepared a composite section of the three caves in the Wady al Mughara (Fig. 7). It shows at a glance the absolute and relative thickness of the layers found in each of the caves, as well as how these layers over- lap. The combined thickness, not counting repetitions, is 21 meters. In addi-




"DY AUGHARA. DIAGRkA.LTIC S,CT1Oli.

All Caves A v . Bronze Age-ReOent

A.Vad B1 I Uoper atutian

~I,..er Nlotufian

MSX%d C ~ .~j III.Upper Aurignaoi&fn

D 1.Mddle Aurigsoolan

Y.iAD * B w Vt Loj.er Aurttogn ln

Tabun B. VII.upper Mousterian

{ U BAbul B VIII.Loser ;lousterian V.SKBUL Tabun C:

Tabun D: { O, D IX Lomer Mousterlan

TABUN:

ebun E a che uleeo-ousterlan

Stale d 5metres

Tabun F XI) O Upper Acheulean

Tabun C XII. Tayociari

Bedrock

FIG. 7. CHART OF C'AVE COMIPOSITE SECTION OF THE THREE WADY AL-

MUGHARA CAVES; IT REPRESENTS A PERIOD OF AT

LEAST 100,000 YEARS AND ITS THICKNESS, NOT

COUNTING DUPLICATIONS OF LAYERS, IS MORE

THAN 21 METERS.

tion to the record-breaking list of human skeletons, these various layers also yielded a rich harvest of cultural remains.

Our American School has likewise combined with the British School in the partial excavation of the Mugharet el- Kebara, near Zichron Jacob, some 16 kilometers south of Wady al-Mughara. As far as the excavation went (to the Lower Middle Aurignacian), the section revealed is not unlike that of the Mug- haret el-Wad. The underlying deposit, not yet excavated, seems to be Mous- terian. The most interesting layer is the Lower Natufian, corresponding to B2 of the Mugharet el-Wad. It yielded an abundance of bone implements, in- cluding very delicate harpoons with a single row of barbs and a splendid series of bone carvings, two of which are on the end of sickle blade hafts (Fig. 8). They are in the same class, only more

complete, as these found in the Mug- haret el-Wad. Mr. Turville-Petre, as- sisted by Mrs. Baynes, was in charge of the work in the Kebara cave.

A temporary exhibition of the results of the joint Palestine expeditions was held from February 1 to May 1, of this year, at the British Museum, through the courtesy of the trustees of the museum and the cooperation of Reginald Smith, keeper of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquiities, and

-: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I~~------

FIG. 8. SICKLE BLADES T-wo CARVED BONE HAFPTINGS FOR SICKLE BLADES,

COMIPLETE EXCEPT FOR THE MICROLITHIC FLINTS,

WHICH WERE SET IN THE LONGITUDINAL GROOVE

SEEN IN THE FIGURE AT THE BOTTOM. MUG-

HARET EL-KEBARA. LOWER NATUFIAN EPOCH.

T. D. Kendrick and Christopher Hawkes, assistant keepers. Mliss Gar- rod and Mr. McCown arranged the exhibition so as to include: (1) a complete sequence of the cultural remains from the Tayacian to the Natufian; (2) various animal bones from the dif- ferent layers; and (3) some of the Neanderthal and Natufian (Mesolithic) skeletons.

GEORGE GRANT MACCURDY, Director

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF

PREHISTORIc RESEARCH

YALE UNIVERSITY



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