Raqefet Cave

Raqefet Cave (Cyclamen Cave) is a Late Natufian archaeological site located in Mount Carmel in the north of Israel.^[1]

Raqefet Cave

Raqefet Cave entrance
Location in Israel Show map of Near East Raqefet Cave (Israel) Show map of Israel
Location	Upper Galilee
Region	Israel
History
Periods	Middle Paleolithic
Cultures	Mousterian, Levantine Aurignacian, Natufian

History

Raqefet Cave was discovered in 1956. The site indicates plants were already used as food here before the advent of agriculture.^[1]

Remains in one of the chambers of the cave suggest the production of beer during the occupation of the cave.^[2][3] The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation consists of 13,000-year-old residues of a beer with the consistency of gruel, used by the semi-nomadic Natufians for ritual feasting, at the Raqefet Cave.^[4][5]

Earlier levels at Raqefet include remains from the Levantine Aurignacian.^[6] Earlier Mousterian remains were also found at Site 187.^[7]

In 2020, incised slabs were discovered at Raqefet Cave, with a human figure most likely shown as dancing.^[8]

Gallery

• 
  Human remains
• 
  Rock mortars used to prepare malt for beer manufacture
• 
  Raqefet Cave rock mortars.
• 
  View of the valley from inside the cave

See also

• History of beer

References

1. Power, Robert; Rosen, Arlene; Nadel, Dani (2016). Phytolith evidence of the use of plants as food by Late Natufians at Raqefet Cave. Wild Harvest: Plants in the Hominin and Pre-Agrarian Human Worlds. Oxbow Books. p. 229. ISBN 9781785701245.
2. Metheny, Karen Bescherer; Beaudry, Mary C. (2015). Archaeology of Food: An Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 46. ISBN 9780759123663.
3. Birch, Suzanne E. Pilaar (2018). Multispecies Archaeology. Routledge. p. 546. ISBN 9781317480648.
4. "'World's oldest brewery' found in cave in Israel, say researchers". British Broadcasting Corporation. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
5. "13,000-year-old brewery discovered in Israel, the oldest in the world". The Times of Israel. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
6. Shea, John J. (2013). Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide. Cambridge University Press. pp. 150–151. ISBN 9781107006980.
7. "A Mousterian assemblage was also found on the floor of the Raqefet Cave (Site 187)" in Olami, Ya'aqov; Olami, Yaʻaqov (1984). Prehistoric Carmel. Israel Exploration Society. p. 177. ISBN 9789652220134.
8. Rosenberg, Danny; Chasan, Rivka; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (2020). "Stone 'Canvas' and Natufian Art: An incised human figure from the Natufian cemetery at Raqefet Cave, Israel". Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 39 (2): 128–140. doi:10.1111/ojoa.12189. S2CID 216196387.

Bibliography

• Lengyel, György; Bocquentin, Fanny (2005). "Burials of Raqefet Cave in the Context of the Late Natufian". Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן. ל"ה: 271–284. JSTOR 23383564.
• Liu, Li; Wang, Jiajing; Rosenberg, Danny; Zhao, Hao; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (2018). "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 21: 783–793. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008. S2CID 165595175.
• Nadel, Dani; Rosenberg, Danny (2016). "A grid-like incised pattern inside a Natufian bedrock mortar, Raqefet Cave, Israel". Journal of Lithic Studies. 3 (3): 337–557. doi:10.2218/jls.v3i3.1467.
• Nadel, D.; Danin, A.; Power, R. C.; Rosen, A. M.; Bocquentin, F.; Tsatskin, A.; Rosenberg, D.; Yeshurun, R.; Weissbrod, L.; Rebollo, N. R.; Barzilai, O.; Boaretto, E. (2013). "Earliest floral grave lining from 13,700-11,700-y-old Natufian burials at Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (29): 11774–11778. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11011774N. doi:10.1073/pnas.1302277110. PMC 3718103. PMID 23818584.