Skhul Cave

Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, Hebrew: מערת סחול; Arabic: السخول; meaning kid, young goat) or the Skhul Cave is a prehistoric cave site situated about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) south of the city of Haifa, Israel, and about 3 km (1.9 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea.

Skhul cave

מערת סחול
Skhul cave, Mount Carmel, Israel
location in Israel
Alternative name	Es-Skhul Mugharet-es-Skhul
Location	south of the city of Haifa
Region	Israel
Coordinates	32°40′14.4″N 34°57′58.1″E
History
Periods	Palaeolithic
Cultures	Natufian
Site notes
Excavation dates	1928
Archaeologists	Dorothy Garrod

Together with the nearby sites of Tabun Cave, Jamal cave, and the cave at El Wad, Skhul is part of the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve,^[1] a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[2]

The site was first excavated by Dorothy Garrod during summer of 1929. Several human skeletons were found in the cave, belonging to an ancient species of Homo sapiens. Both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans were present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago.^[3]

The remains found at es-Skhul, together with those found at the other caves of Wadi el-Mughara and Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, were classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and Theodore D. McCown [de] as Palaeoanthropus palestinensis, a descendant of Homo heidelbergensis.^[4][5][6]

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)
• Qafzeh Cave
• Qesem cave