Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: The Nahal Me’arot / Wadi el-Mughara Caves
Situated on the western slopes of the Mount Carmel range,
the site includes the caves of Tabun, Jamal, el-Wad and Skhul. Ninety
years of archaeological research have revealed a cultural sequence of
unparalleled duration, providing an archive of early human life in
south-west Asia. This 54 ha property contains cultural deposits
representing at least 500,000 years of human evolution demonstrating the
unique existence of both Neanderthals andEarly Anatomically Modern
Humans within the same Middle Palaeolithic cultural framework, the
Mousterian. Evidence from numerous Natufian burials and early stone
architecture represents the transition from a hunter-gathering lifestyle
to agriculture and animal husbandry. As a result, the caves have become
a key site of the chrono-stratigraphic framework for human evolution in
general, and the prehistory of the Levant in particular.