New discoveries at the middle Pleistocene acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel

The Gesher Benot Ya'aqov archaeological site in the northern Dead Sea Rift of Israel contains Acheulian artifacts and middle Pleistocene fossils. Initial results of a new interdisciplinary study have shown that fluviolacustrine sediments of the Benot Ya'aqov Formation, which contains several archaeological occupations, were deposited in an embayment of the Hula Basin. They were subsequently deformed by tectonic activity associated with the Dead Sea Rift. Biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and K-Ar dating serve to constrain the age of the Benot Ya'aqov Formation to between 240,000 and 730,000 yr B.P. Archaeological excavation of three areas and two trenches at the new study area have produced abundant basalt, flint, and limestone artifacts, mammalian and avian fossils, and considerable plant material. The lithic materials provide an excellent opportunity to study large assemblages of in situ Acheulian artifacts, a rare phenomenon in the middle Pleistocene Levantine record. In addition, the organic materials will facilitate paleoenvironmental reconstructions from an ecological-floral perspective.