Depositional and Paleoenvironmental setting of the Bizat Ruhama early pleistocene archaeological assemblages, Northern Negev, Israel: A microstratigraphic perspective

Bizat Ruhama, an Early Pleistocene site located in the southern coastal plain of Israel, has yielded a single archaeological horizon dating to the Matuyama chron. Recent technological and zooarchaeological studies suggest evidence of near in situ hominin occupations taking place in a semiarid climatic setting. Such an archaeological context is rare for the Early Pleistocene and must be corroborated through reconstruction of site formation processes. This paper offers a microstratigraphic view of the site based on results from a micromorphological and granulometric study aimed at reconstructing site formation processes. Results show that the bone and lithic specimens were deposited near their excavated provenience, in a depressed, seasonally waterlogged area, and were subsequently slightly displaced and buried by surface sediment. We infer that the Bizat Ruhama deposit represents one or a few hominin occupations taking place on the surface of an undulating inter-dune depression under a semiarid Mediterranean climate.