Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Atlit Yam
Atlit Yam (Hebrew: עתלית ים) is a submerged Pre Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC) archaeological site located 300–400 meters off the coast of Atlit, Israel. Dating from the late 7th to the early 6th millennia BCE, Atlit Yam provides the earliest known evidence for a community relying on pastoralism, agriculture, and fishing as subsistence systems on the Levantine coast. As of 2004, it is the only marine archaeological site in the Mediterranean to contain in situ human burials.
Atlit Yam once sat on a coastal peninsula in close vicinity to the Oren River as well as several fresh water springs. The beginning of the Holocene saw a rise in sea levels which left the site completely submerged by approximately 7000 BP. The contemporary coastline is assumed to have been about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) west of the present coast. It is currently 8–12 metres (30–40 ft) beneath sea level in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Bay of Atlit, at the mouth of the Oren river on the Carmel coast. The site covers an estimated 6 hectares (15 acres).
The Pre-Yarmukian site has been radiocarbon dated to 8100-7900 BP from charcoal and seed samples. Submerged settlements and shipwrecks have been found on the Carmel coast since 1960, in the wake of large-scale sand quarrying. In 1984, marine archaeologist Ehud Galili spotted ancient remains while surveying the area for shipwrecks.
The foundations of several rectangular walls made of stone and clay bricks have been excavated, some of which contained hearths and "round installations" which are suggested to have served as food niches. A well constructed of dry-stone walling, with a diameter of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and a depth of 5.5 m (18 ft), contained four distinct levels of use. The upper two layers (from 250-0 cm) contained an excess of faunal and botanical remains as well as small stones and shells, thus suggesting the well's use as a refuse pit after rising sea levels resulted in the salinization of the well water. Galili believes that this contamination eventually forced the inhabitants of Atlit Yam to abandon their homes.
A stone semicircle, containing seven 600 kg (1,300 lb) megaliths, has been found. The stones have cup marks carved into them and are arranged around a freshwater spring, which suggests that they may have been used for a water ritual.
A majority of the lithic assemblage consisted of projectile points, bifaces, axes, and sickle blades. While several types of chert were present in the assemblage, they were all quarried from the Mount Carmel region, approximately 4 km to the east. Out of the 155 lithic tools collected, a majority were recovered on the surface of the sea floor. Also recovered were several mortars and bowls made of kurkar and limestone.
Some of the bone artifacts recovered from Atlit Yam include a drilled needle, fishing hooks, projectile points, awls, and ornaments carved with unidentified animals or geometric designs.
The faunal assemblage consists of approximately 322 identifiable bones and another 177 which remain unidentified. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) as calculated by the osteological frequency of faunal remains indicate that goat remains take up over half of the assemblage, followed by cattle and swine. Morphologically, the goat and cattle remains are consistent with non-domesticated species. This indicates that the community of Atlit Yam most likely practiced incipient domestication, characterized by the isolation of a group from a wild herd without the selective interference of choice breeding.
Hub AI
Atlit Yam AI simulator
(@Atlit Yam_simulator)
Atlit Yam
Atlit Yam (Hebrew: עתלית ים) is a submerged Pre Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC) archaeological site located 300–400 meters off the coast of Atlit, Israel. Dating from the late 7th to the early 6th millennia BCE, Atlit Yam provides the earliest known evidence for a community relying on pastoralism, agriculture, and fishing as subsistence systems on the Levantine coast. As of 2004, it is the only marine archaeological site in the Mediterranean to contain in situ human burials.
Atlit Yam once sat on a coastal peninsula in close vicinity to the Oren River as well as several fresh water springs. The beginning of the Holocene saw a rise in sea levels which left the site completely submerged by approximately 7000 BP. The contemporary coastline is assumed to have been about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) west of the present coast. It is currently 8–12 metres (30–40 ft) beneath sea level in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Bay of Atlit, at the mouth of the Oren river on the Carmel coast. The site covers an estimated 6 hectares (15 acres).
The Pre-Yarmukian site has been radiocarbon dated to 8100-7900 BP from charcoal and seed samples. Submerged settlements and shipwrecks have been found on the Carmel coast since 1960, in the wake of large-scale sand quarrying. In 1984, marine archaeologist Ehud Galili spotted ancient remains while surveying the area for shipwrecks.
The foundations of several rectangular walls made of stone and clay bricks have been excavated, some of which contained hearths and "round installations" which are suggested to have served as food niches. A well constructed of dry-stone walling, with a diameter of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and a depth of 5.5 m (18 ft), contained four distinct levels of use. The upper two layers (from 250-0 cm) contained an excess of faunal and botanical remains as well as small stones and shells, thus suggesting the well's use as a refuse pit after rising sea levels resulted in the salinization of the well water. Galili believes that this contamination eventually forced the inhabitants of Atlit Yam to abandon their homes.
A stone semicircle, containing seven 600 kg (1,300 lb) megaliths, has been found. The stones have cup marks carved into them and are arranged around a freshwater spring, which suggests that they may have been used for a water ritual.
A majority of the lithic assemblage consisted of projectile points, bifaces, axes, and sickle blades. While several types of chert were present in the assemblage, they were all quarried from the Mount Carmel region, approximately 4 km to the east. Out of the 155 lithic tools collected, a majority were recovered on the surface of the sea floor. Also recovered were several mortars and bowls made of kurkar and limestone.
Some of the bone artifacts recovered from Atlit Yam include a drilled needle, fishing hooks, projectile points, awls, and ornaments carved with unidentified animals or geometric designs.
The faunal assemblage consists of approximately 322 identifiable bones and another 177 which remain unidentified. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) as calculated by the osteological frequency of faunal remains indicate that goat remains take up over half of the assemblage, followed by cattle and swine. Morphologically, the goat and cattle remains are consistent with non-domesticated species. This indicates that the community of Atlit Yam most likely practiced incipient domestication, characterized by the isolation of a group from a wild herd without the selective interference of choice breeding.