Natalia Gubenko | Israel Antiquities Authority (original) (raw)
Papers by Natalia Gubenko
Mitekufat Haeven – Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 54 , 2024
Although identified almost a century ago, the late Lower Paleolithic (LP) open-air site of Evron ... more Although identified almost a century ago, the late Lower Paleolithic (LP) open-air site of Evron Zinat remains poorly understood. We argue that the site’s huge surface collection comprising some 40,000 flint implements, including ca. 1,300 handaxes and numerous scrapers, has unfulfilled potential. Geochemical analysis of 12 handaxes and a range of primary flint exposures in the western Galilee demonstrates that raw materials for tool production were selected from at least two sources of distinct geological ages, Eocene and Cenomanian. This sets Evron Zinat apart from all other Upper Galilee and Hula Valley LP sites, the flint handaxes of which were shaped solely on Eocene flint. Another contribution is the identification of a previously unknown Paleolithic flint extraction and reduction site West of Julis, located 10 km south of Evron Zinat. We end our exposition with a discussion of Evron Zinat’s potential as a key late LP site based on a significant Acheulo-Yabrudian component of its assemblage.
Mitekufat haeven - Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 2022
The Acheulian site of Ma’ayan Barukh (MB) is a key site of the Levantine Acheulian technocomplex.... more The Acheulian site of Ma’ayan Barukh (MB) is a key site of the Levantine Acheulian technocomplex. Beginning in the 1920s, thousands of handaxes and other artifacts have been collected from MB and the surrounding fields known as Hamara. Despite the impressive finds, the site was never excavated or systematically surveyed. Here we provide
the first full account of the MB artifacts housed at the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory, as well as the location and description of additional MB finds in research institutions and private collections. We further describe a recent systematic survey and test excavations carried out in areas of reported concentrations of finds, aiming to establish a locality suitable for full-fledged excavation. No archaeological horizons or artifact concentrations were found. One hundred years of agriculture and massive artifact collection have depleted the site and we conclude that no potential for full excavation exists at MB, at least on the Israel side of the border with Lebanon. The test excavations provided, however, a tentative stratigraphy that we describe here. We suggest that since the survey and test excavations yielded no evidence for in situ archaeological horizons or a stratigraphic sequence, and considering the unrolled nature of the artifacts, the assemblage likely resulted from a relatively short occupation history representing a single cultural stage within the Late Acheulian of the Levant.
Quaternary International
Abstract The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequenc... more Abstract The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was defined after biased lithic assemblages from el-Wad and Emireh caves by Dorothy Garrod. The term Emiran was further adopted and was incorporated into a broader definition known as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) that is commonly used as a proxy for identifying human migrations during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic interphase. More specifically it is conceived to represent the first arrival of modern humans to the Levant from Africa/Arabia, as well as being the forbearers for post-Mousterian entities in south and central Europe. In this study, we reanalyzed the same lithic assemblage from Emireh Cave that was published by Garrod in 1955 as the typical Emiran site. Our technological study shows the assemblage contains at least three distinctive knapping methods: Levallois, broad-base blades (non-Levallois), and narrow-base blade/lets. In addition, there is a substantial number of endscrapers that could not be technologically defined. We suggest the assemblage indeed contains an 'Emiran' component, including Emireh points, but it also bears Mousterian, Ahmarian and Aurignacian components. Thus, the Emireh cave lithic assemblage is assorted. We propose that the scenario at Emireh Cave in which Emiran and other industries are included in the same layer is likely to be the case in other southern Levantine sites where Emireh points were noted (i.e. el-Wad, Kebara, Qafzeh). It is suggested that the mixture is due to the ephemeral nature of the Emiran occupation at these sites.
ABSTRACT Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic... more ABSTRACT Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. While the nature of the Neolithic occupation is not clear and consists of few lithic artifacts, the density of the architectural remains and rich archaeological assemblages indicate well established Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IB settlements. The recent excavations at Ein Zippori, together with other investigations carried out at Yiftahel and Tell Mitzpe Zevulun North (Nahal Zippori 3) add insights into the proto-historic settlement pattern within the Nahal Zippori basin. The early farming communities around Nahal Zippori founded their villages within the alluvial lands along the stream. It is only with the rise of fortified towns during the Early Bronze II that these settlements relocated from the fertile lands to the hilltops overlooking the Nahal Zippori Valley.
Quaternary International, 2016
A Late Bronze Age Burial Cave at Zawata, 2004
The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was... more The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was defined after biased lithic assemblages from el-Wad and Emireh caves by Dorothy Garrod. The term Emiran was further adopted and was incorporated into a broader definition known as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) that is commonly used as a proxy for identifying human migrations during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic interphase. More specifically it is conceived to represent the first arrival of modern humans to the Levant from Africa/Arabia, as well as being the forbearers for post-Mousterian entities in south and central Europe. In this study, we reanalyzed the same lithic assemblage from Emireh Cave that was published by Garrod in 1955 as the typical Emiran site. Our technological study shows the assemblage contains at least three distinctive knapping methods: Levallois, broad-base blades (non-Levallois), and narrow-base blade/lets. In addition, there is a substantial number of endscrapers that could not be technologically defined. We suggest the assemblage indeed contains an 'Emiran' component, including Emireh points, but it also bears Mousterian, Ahmarian and Aurignacian components. Thus, the Emireh cave lithic assemblage is assorted. We propose that the scenario at Emireh Cave in which Emiran and other industries are included in the same layer is likely to be the case in other southern Levantine sites where Emireh points were noted (i.e. el-Wad, Kebara, Qafzeh). It is suggested that the mixture is due to the ephemeral nature of the Emiran occupation at these sites.
Paléorient
This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were... more This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were discovered during the initial excavations, 1982-1983, and have never been published. Among them there are eleven greenstone beads, a lump of green mineral, three miniature votive axes, two fl int axes, one basalt axe, two seashell pendants, two bone tools, fragments of a white-ware bowl, two small obsidian blades and two small clay fi gurines. Besides a description of the items, we have attempted to relate them to funerary and cult practices according to their archaeological context. Résumé : Cette étude présente une série de pièces importantes découvertes sur le site PPNB de Yiftahel, Israël. Recueillies pendant les premières fouilles, en 1982-1983, elles sont restées inédites. Il s'agit notamment de onze perles en pierre verte, d'un morceau de pierre verte, de modèles réduits de haches votives, de haches en silex et en basalte, de pendentifs en coquillage marin, d'outils e...
Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have ... more Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have been used as a material culture marker for Upper Pleistocene dispersals of hominins out of Africa. The Levantine corridor, being the only land route connecting Africa to Eurasia, has been viewed as a possible dispersal route. We report here on lithic assemblages from the Negev highlands of Israel that contain both Levallois centripetal and Nubian-type cores. Wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6ae5e provided a generally continuous environmental corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The Negev assemblages draw renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene and could suggest that processes of human dispersals and cultural diffusion resulted in the spread of Nubian technology across eastern Africa, the western Sahara and the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia.
Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dat... more Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. While the nature of the Neolithic occupation is not clear and consists of few lithic artifacts, the density of the architectural remains and rich archaeological assemblages indicate well established Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IB settlements. The recent excavations at Ein Zippori, together with other investigations carried out at Yiftahel and Tell Mitzpe Zevulun North (Nahal Zippori 3) add insights into the protohistoric settlement pattern within the Nahal Zippori basin. The early farming communities around Nahal Zippori founded their villages within the alluvial lands along the stream. It is only with the rise of fortified towns during the Early Bronze II that these settlements relocated from the fertile lands to the hilltops overlooking the Nahal Zippori Valley.
This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were... more This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were discovered during the initial excavations, 1982-1983, and have never been published. Among them there are eleven greenstone beads, a lump of green mineral, three miniature votive axes, two fl int axes, one basalt axe, two seashell pendants, two bone tools, fragments of a white-ware bowl, two small obsidian blades and two small clay fi gurines. Besides a description of the items, we have attempted to relate them to funerary and cult practices according to their archaeological context. Résumé : Cette étude présente une série de pièces importantes découvertes sur le site PPNB de Yiftahel, Israël. Recueillies pendant les premières fouilles, en 1982-1983, elles sont restées inédites. Il s'agit notamment de onze perles en pierre verte, d'un morceau de pierre verte, de modèles réduits de haches votives, de haches en silex et en basalte, de pendentifs en coquillage marin, d'outils en os, de tessons d'un bol en pâte blanche, de petites lames en obsidienne et de deux petites fi gurines en terre cuite, décrits ci-dessous. Nous nous sommes attachés à les relier aux pratiques funéraires et cultuelles suivant leur contexte archéologique.
Conference Presentations by Natalia Gubenko
The Nubian cores have been used as a marker for Homo sapiens dispersals out of Africa as they hav... more The Nubian cores have been used as a marker for Homo sapiens dispersals out of Africa as they have been found in East Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia. Their purported absence from Levantine assemblages was used to exclude this region from the proposed dispersal routes, although geographically it is the major land route connecting Africa to both Arabia and Europe. The lithic assemblage from site H2 in the central Negev highlands of Israel includes both Levallois centripetal and Nubian type cores. This assemblage highlights the need for a rigorous definition of the Nubian flaking technology and of the "technological package" that it is associated with. The wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6a-5e provided a generally continuous semi-arid corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The H2 assemblage as well as additional similar collections from the central Negev draws renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene.
Mitekufat Haeven – Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society 54 , 2024
Although identified almost a century ago, the late Lower Paleolithic (LP) open-air site of Evron ... more Although identified almost a century ago, the late Lower Paleolithic (LP) open-air site of Evron Zinat remains poorly understood. We argue that the site’s huge surface collection comprising some 40,000 flint implements, including ca. 1,300 handaxes and numerous scrapers, has unfulfilled potential. Geochemical analysis of 12 handaxes and a range of primary flint exposures in the western Galilee demonstrates that raw materials for tool production were selected from at least two sources of distinct geological ages, Eocene and Cenomanian. This sets Evron Zinat apart from all other Upper Galilee and Hula Valley LP sites, the flint handaxes of which were shaped solely on Eocene flint. Another contribution is the identification of a previously unknown Paleolithic flint extraction and reduction site West of Julis, located 10 km south of Evron Zinat. We end our exposition with a discussion of Evron Zinat’s potential as a key late LP site based on a significant Acheulo-Yabrudian component of its assemblage.
Mitekufat haeven - Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 2022
The Acheulian site of Ma’ayan Barukh (MB) is a key site of the Levantine Acheulian technocomplex.... more The Acheulian site of Ma’ayan Barukh (MB) is a key site of the Levantine Acheulian technocomplex. Beginning in the 1920s, thousands of handaxes and other artifacts have been collected from MB and the surrounding fields known as Hamara. Despite the impressive finds, the site was never excavated or systematically surveyed. Here we provide
the first full account of the MB artifacts housed at the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory, as well as the location and description of additional MB finds in research institutions and private collections. We further describe a recent systematic survey and test excavations carried out in areas of reported concentrations of finds, aiming to establish a locality suitable for full-fledged excavation. No archaeological horizons or artifact concentrations were found. One hundred years of agriculture and massive artifact collection have depleted the site and we conclude that no potential for full excavation exists at MB, at least on the Israel side of the border with Lebanon. The test excavations provided, however, a tentative stratigraphy that we describe here. We suggest that since the survey and test excavations yielded no evidence for in situ archaeological horizons or a stratigraphic sequence, and considering the unrolled nature of the artifacts, the assemblage likely resulted from a relatively short occupation history representing a single cultural stage within the Late Acheulian of the Levant.
Quaternary International
Abstract The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequenc... more Abstract The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was defined after biased lithic assemblages from el-Wad and Emireh caves by Dorothy Garrod. The term Emiran was further adopted and was incorporated into a broader definition known as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) that is commonly used as a proxy for identifying human migrations during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic interphase. More specifically it is conceived to represent the first arrival of modern humans to the Levant from Africa/Arabia, as well as being the forbearers for post-Mousterian entities in south and central Europe. In this study, we reanalyzed the same lithic assemblage from Emireh Cave that was published by Garrod in 1955 as the typical Emiran site. Our technological study shows the assemblage contains at least three distinctive knapping methods: Levallois, broad-base blades (non-Levallois), and narrow-base blade/lets. In addition, there is a substantial number of endscrapers that could not be technologically defined. We suggest the assemblage indeed contains an 'Emiran' component, including Emireh points, but it also bears Mousterian, Ahmarian and Aurignacian components. Thus, the Emireh cave lithic assemblage is assorted. We propose that the scenario at Emireh Cave in which Emiran and other industries are included in the same layer is likely to be the case in other southern Levantine sites where Emireh points were noted (i.e. el-Wad, Kebara, Qafzeh). It is suggested that the mixture is due to the ephemeral nature of the Emiran occupation at these sites.
ABSTRACT Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic... more ABSTRACT Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. While the nature of the Neolithic occupation is not clear and consists of few lithic artifacts, the density of the architectural remains and rich archaeological assemblages indicate well established Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IB settlements. The recent excavations at Ein Zippori, together with other investigations carried out at Yiftahel and Tell Mitzpe Zevulun North (Nahal Zippori 3) add insights into the proto-historic settlement pattern within the Nahal Zippori basin. The early farming communities around Nahal Zippori founded their villages within the alluvial lands along the stream. It is only with the rise of fortified towns during the Early Bronze II that these settlements relocated from the fertile lands to the hilltops overlooking the Nahal Zippori Valley.
Quaternary International, 2016
A Late Bronze Age Burial Cave at Zawata, 2004
The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was... more The Emiran is the earliest technocomplex within the Levantine Upper Palaeolithic sequence. It was defined after biased lithic assemblages from el-Wad and Emireh caves by Dorothy Garrod. The term Emiran was further adopted and was incorporated into a broader definition known as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) that is commonly used as a proxy for identifying human migrations during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic interphase. More specifically it is conceived to represent the first arrival of modern humans to the Levant from Africa/Arabia, as well as being the forbearers for post-Mousterian entities in south and central Europe. In this study, we reanalyzed the same lithic assemblage from Emireh Cave that was published by Garrod in 1955 as the typical Emiran site. Our technological study shows the assemblage contains at least three distinctive knapping methods: Levallois, broad-base blades (non-Levallois), and narrow-base blade/lets. In addition, there is a substantial number of endscrapers that could not be technologically defined. We suggest the assemblage indeed contains an 'Emiran' component, including Emireh points, but it also bears Mousterian, Ahmarian and Aurignacian components. Thus, the Emireh cave lithic assemblage is assorted. We propose that the scenario at Emireh Cave in which Emiran and other industries are included in the same layer is likely to be the case in other southern Levantine sites where Emireh points were noted (i.e. el-Wad, Kebara, Qafzeh). It is suggested that the mixture is due to the ephemeral nature of the Emiran occupation at these sites.
Paléorient
This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were... more This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were discovered during the initial excavations, 1982-1983, and have never been published. Among them there are eleven greenstone beads, a lump of green mineral, three miniature votive axes, two fl int axes, one basalt axe, two seashell pendants, two bone tools, fragments of a white-ware bowl, two small obsidian blades and two small clay fi gurines. Besides a description of the items, we have attempted to relate them to funerary and cult practices according to their archaeological context. Résumé : Cette étude présente une série de pièces importantes découvertes sur le site PPNB de Yiftahel, Israël. Recueillies pendant les premières fouilles, en 1982-1983, elles sont restées inédites. Il s'agit notamment de onze perles en pierre verte, d'un morceau de pierre verte, de modèles réduits de haches votives, de haches en silex et en basalte, de pendentifs en coquillage marin, d'outils e...
Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have ... more Nubian Levallois cores, now known from sites in eastern Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia, have been used as a material culture marker for Upper Pleistocene dispersals of hominins out of Africa. The Levantine corridor, being the only land route connecting Africa to Eurasia, has been viewed as a possible dispersal route. We report here on lithic assemblages from the Negev highlands of Israel that contain both Levallois centripetal and Nubian-type cores. Wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6ae5e provided a generally continuous environmental corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The Negev assemblages draw renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene and could suggest that processes of human dispersals and cultural diffusion resulted in the spread of Nubian technology across eastern Africa, the western Sahara and the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia.
Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dat... more Recent excavations at Ein Zippori in the Lower Galilee revealed a complex proto-historic site dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. While the nature of the Neolithic occupation is not clear and consists of few lithic artifacts, the density of the architectural remains and rich archaeological assemblages indicate well established Early Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IB settlements. The recent excavations at Ein Zippori, together with other investigations carried out at Yiftahel and Tell Mitzpe Zevulun North (Nahal Zippori 3) add insights into the protohistoric settlement pattern within the Nahal Zippori basin. The early farming communities around Nahal Zippori founded their villages within the alluvial lands along the stream. It is only with the rise of fortified towns during the Early Bronze II that these settlements relocated from the fertile lands to the hilltops overlooking the Nahal Zippori Valley.
This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were... more This paper presents some important fi nds from the PPNB site of Yiftahel, Israel. The fi nds were discovered during the initial excavations, 1982-1983, and have never been published. Among them there are eleven greenstone beads, a lump of green mineral, three miniature votive axes, two fl int axes, one basalt axe, two seashell pendants, two bone tools, fragments of a white-ware bowl, two small obsidian blades and two small clay fi gurines. Besides a description of the items, we have attempted to relate them to funerary and cult practices according to their archaeological context. Résumé : Cette étude présente une série de pièces importantes découvertes sur le site PPNB de Yiftahel, Israël. Recueillies pendant les premières fouilles, en 1982-1983, elles sont restées inédites. Il s'agit notamment de onze perles en pierre verte, d'un morceau de pierre verte, de modèles réduits de haches votives, de haches en silex et en basalte, de pendentifs en coquillage marin, d'outils en os, de tessons d'un bol en pâte blanche, de petites lames en obsidienne et de deux petites fi gurines en terre cuite, décrits ci-dessous. Nous nous sommes attachés à les relier aux pratiques funéraires et cultuelles suivant leur contexte archéologique.
The Nubian cores have been used as a marker for Homo sapiens dispersals out of Africa as they hav... more The Nubian cores have been used as a marker for Homo sapiens dispersals out of Africa as they have been found in East Africa, the Nile Valley and Arabia. Their purported absence from Levantine assemblages was used to exclude this region from the proposed dispersal routes, although geographically it is the major land route connecting Africa to both Arabia and Europe. The lithic assemblage from site H2 in the central Negev highlands of Israel includes both Levallois centripetal and Nubian type cores. This assemblage highlights the need for a rigorous definition of the Nubian flaking technology and of the "technological package" that it is associated with. The wetter conditions over the Sahara and Negev deserts during MIS 6a-5e provided a generally continuous semi-arid corridor into the Levant that enabled the dispersal of hominin groups bearing the Nubian variant of prepared core technologies. The H2 assemblage as well as additional similar collections from the central Negev draws renewed attention to the place of the Levant as one of the dispersal routes out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene.