Manot Cave, Israel
Clearly, the authors of the creation myths in Genesis had no knowledge of their own history let alone the history of the rest of the world, as 25,000 years before the time in which they set their 'creation week', there were people holding ritual gatherings in a cave in what is now Israel.
Before the mythical 'creation week' there was supposedly no Earth, no Universe, no living beings and only a god made of nothing which had self-assembled out of nothing according to a design it made before it existed.
Creationists reason that the Universe and life on Earth is too complex to have arisen spontaneously, and it couldn't have all come from nothing, so an even more complex god must have arisen spontaneously out of nothing first then created everything else out of nothing by magic. To a child-like creationists there is no possible flaw in that reasoning.
Prehistoric history of humans in the Levant. The Levant, a region in the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and parts of Turkey, has a rich prehistoric history central to the story of human evolution and early civilization. Key aspects of its prehistoric human history include:Evidence for these ritual gatherings has just been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) by a team led by three Israeli archaeologists and including researchers from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and described in a Case Western Reserve University news release:
Early Human Occupation
Cultural and Technological Advances
- Homo erectus and Neanderthals:
- Homo erectus, an early human ancestor, is believed to have migrated through the Levant around 1.5 million years ago, as evidenced by tools and fossil finds in sites like Ubeidiya in Israel.
- Neanderthals occupied the Levant intermittently, with significant remains found in caves like Amud and Kebara in Israel. These populations were adapted to cooler climates and coexisted with anatomically modern humans for some time.
- Anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens):
- Fossil evidence from Skhul and Qafzeh Caves (dating to approximately 120,000–90,000 years ago) shows some of the earliest presence of Homo sapiens outside Africa. These individuals displayed both modern and archaic traits, suggesting a transitional phase of human evolution.
Agricultural Revolution
- Middle Palaeolithic Period (250,000–50,000 years ago):
- The Levant was part of a crucial migratory corridor for early humans. Stone tools from this period, associated with both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, include Levallois technology, a distinctive method of producing flint tools.
- Evidence suggests cultural exchange and possibly interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans during this period.
- Upper Palaeolithic Period (50,000–20,000 years ago):
- This era saw the dominance of Homo sapiens and the decline of Neanderthals in the region.
- Innovations included more sophisticated tools, personal ornaments, and symbolic art, indicating cognitive and cultural advancements.
Archaeological Highlights
- Epipaleolithic Period (20,000–10,000 years ago):
- Cultures like the Natufians (circa 15,000–11,500 years ago) in the Levant were among the first to transition from nomadic to sedentary lifestyles.
- They constructed semi-permanent settlements and began cultivating wild cereals and domesticating animals, setting the stage for the Agricultural Revolution.
- Neolithic Revolution (10,000–6,000 years ago):
- The Levant became a cradle of agriculture during this period. Sites such as Jericho and Ain Ghazal reveal early examples of farming communities with permanent dwellings, pottery, and advanced social structures.
- Domestication of plants like wheat and barley and animals like goats and sheep transformed human societies.
- Jericho:
- One of the oldest known towns in the world, with settlement layers dating back to around 10,000 BCE, including early fortifications and a stone tower.
- Göbekli Tepe (though geographically in Turkey, close to the Levant):
- This site, dating to around 9600 BCE, features monumental stone structures and carvings, suggesting complex social and spiritual activities among hunter-gatherers.
Significance
The Levant's geographical location made it a crucial crossroads for human migrations between Africa, Europe, and Asia. It played a pivotal role in the spread of Homo sapiens, cultural innovations, and the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This region's archaeological record continues to provide critical insights into human evolution and the development of early civilizations.
Earliest deep-cave ritual compound in Southwest Asia discovered
Case Western Reserve University researchers helped unearth evidence for ritualistic gathering in upper Palaeolithic
A cave in Galilee, Israel, has yielded evidence for ritualistic gathering 35,000 years ago, the earliest on the Asian continent. Three Israeli researchers led the team that published its results today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
And researchers from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Dental Medicine helped unearth the cave’s secrets over more than a decade of excavation.
Manot Cave was used for thousands of years as a living space for both Neanderthals and humans at different times. In 2015, researchers from Case Western Reserve helped identify a 55,000-year-old skull that provided physical evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthal and homo sapiens, with characteristics of each clearly visible in the skull fragment.
The cave’s living space was near the entrance, but in the deepest, darkest part of the cave, eight stories below, the new paper describes a large cavern with evidence it was used as a gathering space, possibly for rituals that enhanced social cohesion.
“Turtle rock” was focal point
The cavern’s touchstone is an engraved rock, deliberately placed in a niche in the cavern, with a turtle-shell design carved into its surface. The three-dimensional turtle is contemporaneous with some of the oldest cave paintings in France.
An engraved rock with a carved symbolic turtle was placed in a niche in the ritual space.The cavern has natural acoustics favorable for large gatherings, and evidence of wood ash on nearby stalagmites suggests prehistoric humans carried torches to light the chamber.It may have represented a totem or spiritual figure. Its special location, far from the daily activities near the cave entrance, suggests that it was an object of worship.
Omry Barzilai, lead author
The Leon Recannati Institute of Maritime Studies
School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures
University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
Manot Cave was discovered in 2008 by workers building condominiums in a mountain resort close to Israel’s border with Lebanon. Case Western Reserve’s School of Dental Medicine got involved in the excavation in 2012. The dean at the time, Jerold Goldberg, committed $20,000 annually for 10 years to CWRU’s Institute for the Science of Origins; the money was used to fund dental students’ summer research in Israel.
Dental students dug ancient bones
I’m an oral and maxillofacial surgeon by training. I provided the commitment and the money because I wanted people to understand the breadth and intellectual interest that dental schools have.
Jerold Goldberg, co-author
Departments of Orthodontics and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
School of Dental Medicine
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
And although not trained in archaeology, dental students can quickly identify bone fragments from rock, which makes them invaluable at excavations like Manot Cave.
Most people would not suspect that a dental school would be involved in an archaeological excavation, but one of the things that are preserved very well in ancient skeletons are teeth, because they are harder than bone. There is a whole field of dental anthropology. As an orthodontist, I am interested in human facial growth and development, which, it turns out, is exactly what is needed to identify anthropological specimens.
Professor Mark Hans, co-author
Departments of Orthodontics and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
School of Dental Medicine
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
For 10 years, Case Western Reserve sent 10 to 20 dental students every summer to help with the Manot Cave excavation. The summer research became so popular that students from other dental and medical schools began applying to visit Israel with the CWRU team, according to Yvonne McDermott, the project coordinator.
Case Western Reserve also collaborated closely with Linda Spurlock, a physical anthropologist at Kent State University, whose expertise is putting a face on a skull using clay to build out the tissues that would have covered the bone when the person was alive.
One of the things I liked most about working on this excavation was how much we learned from the other researchers. Everyone has a narrow focus, like mammals, uranium-dating, hearths; and we all came together and shared our knowledge. We learned a lot over 10 years.
>Professor Mark Hans.
The Manot Cave project is supported by the Dan David Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, the Irene Levi Sala CARE Archaeological Foundation and the Leakey Foundation. The research also involved experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Cleveland State University, the Geological Survey of Israel, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University, the University of Vienna, the University of Barcelona, the University of Siena and Simon Fraser University.
For intellectually honest people, having an article of faith falsified so spectacularly as this would be reason enough to change their minds and reassess the basis of their beliefs. Not so, creationists whose first (and usually last) resort is to stick to their belief despite the contrary evidence and instead look for ways to ignore the contrary evidence. Their superstition is sacred, so facts must be ignored.Significance
This study presents evidence from the Levant of communal rituals centered around a carved boulder within a distinct hall in the deepest and darkest part of Manot Cave. It expands our understanding of the Upper Paleolithic period beyond material culture and subsistence, delving into the more ephemeral realm of the ritual lives of the people.
Abstract
Identifying communal rituals in the Paleolithic is of scientific importance, as it reflects the expression of collective identity and the maintenance of group cohesion. This study provides evidence indicating the practice of deep cave collective rituals in the Levant during the Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) period. It is demonstrated that these gatherings occurred within a distinct ritual compound and were centered around an engraved object in the deepest part of Manot Cave, a pivotal EUP site in southwest Asia. The ritual compound, segregated from the living areas, encompasses a large gallery partitioned by a cluster of remarkable speleothems. Within this gallery, an engraved boulder stands out, displaying geometric signs suggesting a unique representation of a tortoise. Isotopic analysis of calcite crusts on the boulder’s grooves revealed alignment with values found in speleothems from the cave dated to ~37 to 35 ka BP. Additionally, meticulous shape analysis of the grooves’ cross-section and the discernible presence of microlinear scratches on the grooves’ walls confirmed their anthropogenic origin. Examination of stalagmite laminae (36 ka BP) near the engraved boulder revealed a significant presence of wood ash particles within. This finding provides evidence for using fire to illuminate the dark, deep part of the cave during rituals. Acoustic tests conducted in various cave areas indicate that the ritual compound was well suited for communal gatherings, facilitating conversations, speeches, and hearing. Our results underscore the critical role of collective practices centered around a symbolic object in fostering a functional social network within the regional EUP communities.
When and where initial forms of collective ritual practices first appeared is still an enigma. The study of Paleolithic prehistoric art provides an important insight into past human cultures. Remarkable examples of artistic expression in Europe (1, 2), Africa (3, 4), Southeast Asia (5–7), and Australia (8, 9)—illustrate the artistic skills, cognitive abilities, and cultural development of the Paleolithic people worldwide. However, evidence regarding the symbolic behavior of Paleolithic people (e.g., refs. 6, and 10–16) is still poorly understood and subject to ongoing debate. Symbolic behavior likely emerged alongside the development of complex cognitive abilities, enabling early humans to represent and communicate abstract concepts through symbols, embedded in artistic representation, language, and ritual practices. Archaeological evidence suggests that this capacity began to develop in the Middle Stone Age, with the earliest known examples of symbolic artifacts, such as ochre engravings and beads, appearing around 100,000 y ago (17). These artifacts indicate the ability to create and understand symbols, a critical step in the evolution of culture and social structures that help maintain large and more complex social networks (18). Communal rituals, as a specific form of symbolic behavior, often leave material traces, such as public-cum-ceremonial structures, communal burial grounds, and unique artifacts, which provide insights into the symbolic and social practices of prehistoric communities (19). The discovery of constructed stalagmite circles in Bruniquel Cave, France, suggests that some form of deep cave communal ritual was already practiced by Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic (20). Social evolution theories argue that the appearance of communal ritual practices is intimately interconnected with the evolution of social complexity as a mechanism aimed at promoting social cohesion (21).
In the archaeological record, identification of collective rituals is challenging and usually relies on physical elements such as exceptional stone structures interpreted as temples and shrines (22–24). In the earlier prehistoric periods, evidence may come in the form of confined spaces in caves, often decorated with paintings and engravings, that can host gathered people to perform nonmundane activities (25, 26). Such confined spaces provide options for seclusion, intimacy, selective attendance, and other modes needed in ritual activities (27, 28).
Rock engravings are already evident in the Middle Paleolithic period and became more complex and frequent during the Upper Paleolithic (29, 30) (SI Appendix, 1). In the Levant, engraved artifacts are uncommon and when found, they are often categorized as artistic items. These objects are usually portable and of a personal nature (31–36), commonly discovered in close association with domestic assemblages and other artifacts. In most Paleolithic sites in the Levant, there is no clear spatial division between areas designated for domestic activities and those used for other purposes [e.g., in Qafzeh Cave (37)]. Therefore, we cannot preclude the possibility that these small artifacts were mundane, made for aesthetic purposes, evidence for the adroitness of the artist, or meant to enhance prestige.
In this paper, we report the discovery of a confined space (referred to as the “ritual compound”) with an engraved dolomite boulder found in the deepest and darkest part of Manot Cave (Fig. 1) (38–40). This space (Areas A, H, K; Fig. 1C and SI Appendix, Fig. S1), is distinctly separated from the domestic living area (Area E), which was located close to the cave entrance. Our research provides compelling evidence indicating the boulder and the space surrounding it dedicated communal space for ritual purposes.
The site location, the cave plan with excavated areas, and the major findings. (A) Location of Manot Cave and other Paleolithic sites with engraved objects. (B) Archaeological horizons in the major activity area at the cave entrance (Area E). (C) Plan of the cave with excavated areas marked. The ritual compound is marked with a dashed-line red circle. (D) The location of the boulder with its geometric markings. (E) Persian fallow deer antler retrieved from the southern “hidden” chamber next to the entrance to the gallery. (F) Cross-section of the cave. Note that the gallery is in the deepest part of the cave. Numbers (1, 2, 3) denote the main locations of groups of stalagmites. (G) Stalagmites within the cave. Note a row of speleothems at the bottom of the western talus, separating the gallery from the rest of the cave. (H) Superolateral view (looking northwest) of the recovered boulder ( in situ). Note that the cave wall is void of similar engravings. (I) A three-dimensional image (3D) of the ritual compound where the engraved boulder was found. Notice the two pillars of stalagmites (forming the “gate”) at its entrance.
Fig. 2.
Macrotopography of artificial and naturally occurring grooves on Manot Cave boulder. (A) The engraved boulder. Note the central concentric line (black arrow) connecting two levels of geometric signs. In the white circle “navicular,” boat-shape, grooves. (B and C) Close-up views on a navicular groove, presented from two different angles. (D) A navicular groove was produced during the experimental study. (E and F) The locations where groove profiles were taken. (G) Profile (cross-section) of artificial (A1 to A3, B1 to B3, E1 to E3, F1 to F3) and natural (I1 to I3, J1 to J3, K1 to K3) grooves on the boulder surfaces. The worked groove maintains a linear appearance throughout its entire length. It possesses a V-shaped cross-section with well-defined shoulders and resembles the shape of a boat, i.e., wide in the middle and converging toward its ends. In contrast, a natural groove resembles a narrow fissure or crack. It is shallower and lacks the distinctive “V”-shape characteristic of an artificial groove. (H) Microphotography of both artificial (first two from Left to Right) and natural (first two from Right to Left) grooves. Natural grooves possess a gutter-like floor, in contrast to the reverse tapered sharp edge-shaped floor observed in the worked groove.
Fig. 3.
Presence of microscratches on the slanting walls of the boulder grooves and experimental grooves. (A) The studied grooves on Manot boulder. (B) Groove A, a white line marks the profile of the groove, the blue arrow marks the location of the micro scratches. (C) Groove F, the white line marks the profile of the groove, the blue arrow points to the location of the micro scratches on the sidewall of the groove. (D) Micro scratches in groove A. (E) Micro scratches in groove F. Due to erosion, the scratches are hard to notice. Major parts of the groove were covered by crust and could not be inspected for micro scratches. (F) The experimental study carried out with flint tools, consisting of carinated and dihedral burins (#1 to 3) and a heavy-duty scraper (#4) (G) produced similar navicular-shaped grooves (H) and micro scratches on the side walls (I and J) due to repeated movements of the sharp flint. The starting point can be easily detected.
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