Skhul Cave

Skhul Cave is a prehistoric archaeological site on Mount Carmel in northern Israel that produced early human remains and burial contexts. The site is part of a cluster of Pleistocene cave sites on Mount Carmel that have been central to research on early modern humans and Neanderthals.

The human fossils and associated stone tools recovered from Skhul are commonly dated to roughly 80,000 to 120,000 years ago and are interpreted as examples of early Homo sapiens in the Levantine corridor. The assemblage includes skeletal remains showing modern human anatomy and deliberate burial practices.

Major excavations were conducted in the late 1920s and early 1930s by archaeologist Dorothy Garrod and colleagues, and the finds from Skhul have been influential in debates about early human dispersal out of Africa and interactions with other hominin populations.

Geographically the cave sits on the southern slopes of Mount Carmel near Haifa in Israel’s Haifa District and is accessible within the Mount Carmel archaeological and natural landscape.

• Dating and finds: Human remains and burials found at the site are dated to roughly 80,000 to 120,000 years before present and include anatomically modern Homo sapiens.
• Excavation history: Excavations at the site were carried out in the late 1920s and early 1930s by Dorothy Garrod, whose work produced some of the important early modern human remains from the Levant.