Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh

{{Short description|Archaeological site in Israel}} {{Infobox ancient site | name = Zuttiyeh Cave | native_name = Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh | native_name_lang = Hebrew | alternate_name = Cave of the Robbers | image = File:Zuttiyeh.jpg | image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = Entrance to Zuttiyeh Cave, Galilee | map = {{location map|Israel northeast#Israel#Near East |lat_deg=32.85 |lon_deg=35.52 |border=infobox|label=|position=top |caption = |float = center }} | map_type = | map_alt = | map_caption = | map_size = 250px | relief = yes | coordinates = {{coord|32.866173|N|35.505728|E|display=inline,title}} | map_dot_label = | location = | region = Upper Galilee, Israel | type = limestone cave | part_of = | length = | width = | area = | volume = | diameter = | circumference = | height = | builder = | material = | built = | abandoned = | epochs =  | cultures = Acheulo-Yabrudian complex | dependency_of = | occupants = ''Homo heidelbergensis'' | event = | excavations = | archaeologists = Francis Turville-Petre | condition = | ownership = | management = | public_access = | other_designation = | website =  | notes = }} '''Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh''' ("Cave of the Robbers"),<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Freidline |first1=S.E. |last2=Gunz |first2=P. |last3=Janković |first3=I. |last4=Harvati |first4=K. |last5=Hublin |first5=J.J. |date=2012 |title=A comprehensive morphometric analysis of the frontal and zygomatic bone of the Zuttiyeh fossil from Israel |url=https://pages.nycep.org/ed/download/pdf/NMG%2043.pdf |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=225–241 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.11.005 |pmid=22176924 |access-date=25 April 2013}}</ref> also called as the "Skull Cave", is a prehistoric archaeological site in Upper Galilee, Israel.<ref>{{cite web|author=Human Evolution |url=https://www.academia.edu/12666384 |title=The Zuttiyeh specimen from Israel, Galilee Skull or The Palestinian Skull |publisher=Pfpuech.newsvine.com |date=2011-12-17 |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref> It is situated {{convert|2900|m|ft|abbr=on}} from the Nahal Amud outlet, approximately {{convert|30|m|ft|abbr=on}} above the wadi bed ({{convert|148|m|ft|abbr=on}} below sea level). It was found to house a fossil today known as the "Galilee skull" or "The Yabrudian Man".<ref name="Rast">{{cite book|url={{Google books |id=4Z0YrPfeHa8C |page=50 |plainurl=yes }} |title=Through the Ages in Palestinian Archaeology: An Introductory Handbook|page=50|first=Walter E.|last=Rast|year=1992|isbn=9781563380556|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|postscript=.{{nbsp}}"Galilee man" (lowercase "m") in this source is a typo – ref. Solo Man, Peking Man and so forth.}}</ref>

==History== Discovered in 1925, the skull was the first fossilised archaic human found in Western Asia.<ref name="pioneer women">{{cite book |url={{Google books |id=yLxQWOgfiK0C |page=407 |plainurl=yes }} |title=Breaking Ground: Pioneering Women Archaeologists |first1=Getzel M. |last1=Cohen |first2=Martha |last2=Joukowsky |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2004 |access-date=2013-04-25 }}</ref> Together with the remains found at Es Skhul and the Wadi el-Mughara Caves, this find was classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and {{Interlanguage link multi|Theodore D. McCown|de|vertical-align=sup}} as ''Palaeoanthropus palestinensis''.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/stoneageofmountc02join#page/18/mode/1up The stone age of Mount Carmel : report of the Joint Expedition of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and the American School of Prehistoric Research, 1929–1934], p. 18</ref> Today its taxonomy is that of ''Homo heidelbergensis''.<ref name="Cartmill-Smith">{{Cite book |title=The Human Lineage |last1=Cartmill |first1=Matt |last2=Smith |first2=Fred H. |url={{Google books |id=5TRHOmTUTP4C |page=320 |plainurl=yes }} |page=320 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2009 |isbn=978-0471214915 |access-date=2013-03-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |id=vHKuxy69Lc8C |page=59 |plainurl=yes }} |title=The Palaeolithic Origins of Human Burial |first=Paul |last=Pettitt |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |page=59 }}{{cite book |url={{Google books |id=Kl8gAwAAQBAJ |page=90 |plainurl=yes }} |title=Human Adaptation in the Asian Palaeolithic: Hominin Dispersal and Behaviour during the Late Quaternary |first=Ryan J. |last=Rabett |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |page=90 }}</ref>

Zuttiyeh cave is at the opening of a limestone ravine where Nahal Amud turns eastward, {{convert|250|m|ft|abbr=on}} above a smaller cave known as Mugharet el-Emireh (Cave of the Princess).<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2844188 |title=The Mugharet el-Emireh in Lower Galilee: Type-Station of the Emiran Industry |author-link=Dorothy Garrod |first=D. E. A. |last=Garrod |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=85 |issue=1/2 |year=1955 |pages=141–162 |doi=10.2307/2844188 }}</ref>

The cave was excavated from 1925 to 1926 by Francis Turville-Petre.<ref name="Cartmill-Smith" /> It was the first paleontological excavation in the region.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/paleo_0153-9345_1974_num_2_1_4180 |title=Excavations in Wadi Amud |journal=Paléorient |year=1974 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=175–180 |publisher=Persee.fr |doi=10.3406/paleo.1974.4180 |access-date=2013-04-25|last1=Itzik |first1=Gisis |last2=Bar-Yosef |first2=Ofer }}</ref> Turville-Petre discovered a skull, referred to as the ''Galilee Skull'', that was initially described as the second Neanderthal-like specimen. It was originally attributed to a Mousterian stratum and is now thought to be from an earlier Acheulo-Yabrudian complex. Later studies showed that the face was relatively flat, with no evidence of Neanderthal-like facial prognathism.<ref name="Cartmill-Smith" />

The frontal bone and part of the upper face were found in the Mugharan level, which leads to an estimate of the age of the fossil to range from 200 to 500 kya.<ref>{{Cite web| title=A comprehensive morphometric analysis of the frontal and zygomatic bone of the Zuttiyeh fossil from Israel | url=http://pages.nycep.org/ed/download/pdf/NMG%2043.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221085329/http://pages.nycep.org/ed/download/pdf/NMG%2043.pdf | archive-date=2014-02-21}}</ref> Similarities with Zhoukoudian remains suggest a possible ancestral relationship.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=8333489 |title=Zuttiyeh face: A view from the East |date=2013-03-25 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330910307 |volume=91 |pages=325–47|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37665/1/1330910307_ftp.pdf |hdl=2027.42/37665 |hdl-access=free |last1=Sohn |first1=Songy |last2=Wolpoff |first2=Milford H. |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |issue=3 }}</ref>

The skull is housed in the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem along with many other findings of Turville-Petre.<ref name="Rast" /><ref name="pioneer women" /> A cast of the skull is on display at the Israel Museum.<ref name="IMPE">{{cite web |title=The Israel Museum Permanent Exhibitions: Archaeology Wing – The Dawn of Civilization |id=Skull (cast) Zuttiyeh Cave Lower Palaeolithic |url=http://www.imj.org.il/imagine/galleries/viewItemE.asp?case=1&itemNum=359979|publisher=The Ridgefield Foundation |location=New York |year=1995 |access-date=2013-03-13}}</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery> Mugharet-el-Zuttiyeh-Hill.jpg|Hill of the Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh cave IMJ view 20130115 192522.jpg|A cast of the Galilee skull, Israel Museum<ref name="IMPE" /> </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |first=Marta Mirazón |last=Lahr |url={{Google books |id=vfpYrleTsMcC |plainurl=yes }} |title=The evolution of modern human diversity: a study of cranial variation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-47393-4 }} * {{cite book |first1=Eric |last1=Delson |first2=Ian |last2=Tattersall |first3=John A. |last3=Van Couvering |url={{Google books |id=E8z9YZZiKHgC |plainurl=yes }} |title=Encyclopedia of human evolution and prehistory |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2000 |isbn=0-203-00942-8 }}

==External links== {{Sister project links|auto=yes}} *[http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/3d-collection/zuttiyeh What does it mean to be human?] *{{Google books |id=G73zMQAACAAJ |title=On the Animal Remains Obtained from the Mugharet-el-Zuttiyeh in 1925 & 1926 }} {{Caves in Israel}} {{Homo heidelbergensis|state=collapsed}} {{Navbox prehistoric caves}}

Category:Prehistoric sites in Israel Category:Upper Galilee Category:Caves of Israel