Ubeidiya


'Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of Lake Tiberias, in the Jordan Rift Valley, Israel, is an archaeological site of the Pleistocene, years ago, preserving traces of one of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa, with only the site of Dmanisi in Georgia being older. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type, a hippopotamus' femur bone, and an immensely large pair of horns belonging to a species of extinct bovid.
The site was discovered in 1959 and excavated between 1960 and 1974.

Location

'Ubeidiya is located between the village Menahemia and Kibbutz Beit Zera, one kilometer northwest of the kibbutz Beit Zera. The prehistoric remains were found at a site distinct from the archaeological mound known as Tell 'Ubeidiya, northwest of the tell.

Excavation history

The prehistoric site was discovered in May 1959 near the tell, south of the Yavne'el stream, by a member of Kibbutz Afikim who was preparing the ground for agriculture. Excavations at the site began in 1960, led by Moshe Stekelis, assisted by zoologist Georg Haas, geologists Leo Picard and Nachman Shulman and several archaeology students, including Ofer Bar-Yosef and Naama Goren-Inbar. After Stekelis' death in 1967, Bar-Yosef and Goren-Inbar conducted the excavations.

Findings

Prehistoric remains starting from about 1.7 million years were discovered in the excavations, within about 60 layers of soil within which were found human bones and remains of ancient animals. These include some of the oldest remains found outside Africa, and more than 10,000 ancient stone tools.
The site also features rock surfaces in which the prehistoric man lived during the Pleistocene period. As a result of geologic breakage and foldage activity, the rock surfaces are now inclined at an angle of 70 degrees. It is thought that the area used to feature a pristine lake along which Homo erectus lived after his exodus from Africa. The finds discovered at the site validate this theory. Today, the findings are preserved in the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem.

Nearby Tell 'Ubeidiya

On the nearby mound once stood a walled city which controlled the crossroads of the Jordan Valley and the road linking the Golan Heights to the port of Acre. Tell Ubeidiya is considered as one of the possible candidates for the Bronze Age city of Yenoam, known from Egyptian sources, but this is a matter of speculation.
Ruins of the Arab Palestinian village Al-'Ubaydiyya, depopulated in 1948, are still visible on the tell.