Raqefet Cave

Raqefet Cave

Raqefet Cave entrance
Location in Israel Show map of Near East Raqefet Cave (Israel) Show map of Israel
Location	Upper Galilee
Region	Israel
History
Periods	Middle Paleolithic
Cultures	Mousterian, Levantine Aurignacian, Natufian

Raqefet Cave (Cyclamen Cave) is a Late Natufian archaeological site located in Mount Carmel in the north of Israel.^[1]

Raqefet Cave was discovered in 1956. The site indicates plants were already used as food here before the advent of agriculture.^[1]

Remains in one of the chambers of the cave suggest the production of beer during the occupation of the cave.^[2][3] The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation consists of 13,000-year-old residues of a beer with the consistency of gruel, used by the semi-nomadic Natufians for ritual feasting, at the Raqefet Cave.^[4][5]

Earlier levels at Raqefet include remains from the Levantine Aurignacian.^[6] Earlier Mousterian remains were also found at Site 187.^[7]

In 2020, incised slabs were discovered at Raqefet Cave, with a human figure most likely shown as dancing.^[8]

• 
  Human remains
• 
  Rock mortars used to prepare malt for beer manufacture
• 
  Raqefet Cave rock mortars.
• 
  View of the valley from inside the cave

• History of beer

• Lengyel, György; Bocquentin, Fanny (2005). "Burials of Raqefet Cave in the Context of the Late Natufian". Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן. ל"ה: 271–284. JSTOR 23383564.
• Liu, Li; Wang, Jiajing; Rosenberg, Danny; Zhao, Hao; Lengyel, György; Nadel, Dani (2018). "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel: Investigating Natufian ritual feasting". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 21: 783–793. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008. S2CID 165595175.
• Nadel, Dani; Rosenberg, Danny (2016). "A grid-like incised pattern inside a Natufian bedrock mortar, Raqefet Cave, Israel". Journal of Lithic Studies. 3 (3): 337–557. doi:10.2218/jls.v3i3.1467.
• Nadel, D.; Danin, A.; Power, R. C.; Rosen, A. M.; Bocquentin, F.; Tsatskin, A.; Rosenberg, D.; Yeshurun, R.; Weissbrod, L.; Rebollo, N. R.; Barzilai, O.; Boaretto, E. (2013). "Earliest floral grave lining from 13,700-11,700-y-old Natufian burials at Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (29): 11774–11778. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11011774N. doi:10.1073/pnas.1302277110. PMC 3718103. PMID 23818584.