Oren Pre-historic Caves
The site is located at the western edge of the Oren valley. In the hills
there are a series of prehistoric caves where Early Man dwelt.
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Background:
Mount Carmel and the Carmel shore have more than 210 prehistoric known sites, spanning from
150,000 years ago. Some of the sites are in Nahal (creek) Oren, at the
west side of Mount Carmel close to Atlit, where 3
major caves have been excavated.
Location:
In Oren creek, at the west edge of Mount Carmel and close
to the sea shore, there is a set of famous stone-age caves that were
excavated (1958). Two of these caves are Oren-upper cave and
Job's cave. Another prehistoric cave is located across the valley on
the facing hill (the 'finger' cave).
These caves are not open to the public, although you can climb up
the hill and visit them. However, the findings, mostly flint
stones and bones, are displayed in the prehistoric museum in
Central Carmel in Haifa (inside the Haifa Zoo). You can also
visit another prehistoric site - in Nahal Maarot (Carmel
Caves).
Pre History in the Carmel
The excavations in the
Carmel region showed that the early man has been in this area over
the last 150,000 years. The number of sites per period fluctuated
during these years. The population peaked during the Middle
Paleolithic period (80,000-40,000 BC), the Epi-Paleolithic period
(16,000 - 8,300 BC) and the Neolithic period (8,300 -4,500 BC).
There were fewer numbers in the Early Paleolithic period
(150,000-80,000BC) and the upper Paleolithic period (40,000 - 16,000
BC).
In the Middle
Paleolithic period (80,000-40,000 BC) there were the majority of
the settlements in the Carmel. These people knew how to make
knives, scrapers and points out of flint. The popular areas of the
Carmel were the sites of the source of the flint stones, and there
were many workshops that prepared theses tools. There were two types
found in the Carmel: Homo Sapiens (our ancestors) and the
Neanderthaloids (the specie that eventually disappeared, which had
about 15% smaller brain). Note that this time coincided with the
last Ice age (100,000 to 10,000 BC), and so the climate was wet and
cold, and many Oak trees were growing in the Carmel.
In the later periods,
the Epi-Paleolithic period (16,000 - 8,300 BC) and the
Neolithic period (8,300 -4,500 BC) the early man already
domesticated plants and animals. The type of early man that was
found from this period was the archaic Mediterranean type, with
average height of 160-165 cm.
General View:
In these natural caves, the early man used as a
shelter, campfire and housing.
The caves are visible from the road through Oren
Valley, leading from Atlit up to the
Carmel. The following photo shows the northern caves.
Click on the photo to view it in higher
resolution...
Another view of the caves on the north side:
The Caves:
These are the major caves that were excavated on both sides of
the Oren valley, at the western edge of Mount Carmel:
- Job's Cave (lower Oren cave)
- Upper Oren Cave - Located above the lower Oren cave. This cave depth
is 25M, and splits to two smaller halls (4.5 X 7 , 4 x 5M)
- The Finger Cave - in the southern hill facing the above caves.
These caves were mostly seasonal, and not used throughout the year.
They were also used as a base for hunting. There were other caves that served
as home bases - like the Carmel Caves.
Etymology (behind the name):
- "Oren" is Pine tree in Hebrew
References:
- Atlas of Haifa and Mount Carmel (1980, ISBN 965-222-003-5) -
Prehistory pp 32-33 [A. Ronen & J. Olami)
See also:
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