Prehistoric Occupations in Me'arat HaSela (Sela Cave), Upper Nahal Hever, in the Southern Judean Desert

This paper summarises the small Lithic collections deriving from salvage excavations cosntucted in the Me'arat Hasela, located in Upper Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert. The collections indicate two main occupation periods of the cave: the first occured during the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian Period (ca. 15,500-11,500 cal BP), when the cave and especially the cave terrace were occupied; and the second during the Chalcolithic period (ca. 6,500-6,000 cal BP), when the cave was used for special purposes, such as burial, storage, or as a temporary refuge. In addition the cave was settled at least twice more in a very ephemeral manner during the PPNA/PPNB and early Bronze Age. The evidence for sparse Natufian use of the cave , is of some interest as it extends the distribution of such occurences further south in the Judean Desert in comparison to those discovered further north by Rene' Neuville.