Gesher Benot Ya'aqov

33.033333333333 35.616666666667Coordinates: 33 ° 2 ′ 0 ″ N , 35 ° 37 ′ 0 ″ E

Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (abbreviation: GBY; translated: "Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob ") is an archaeological site in the northern Jordan Valley ( Israel ) on the bank of a former lake. Dating based on the ratio of the isotopes ¹⁶ O and ¹⁸ O of the oxygen resulted in an assignment to the oxygen isotope level 17 (OIS 17), which corresponds to an age of 780,000 years; a paleomagnetic dating of this site indicated an age of 790,000 years. Preserved stone artefacts - many hand axes from basalt - set the find site the Acheulean .

It is not clear which hominins lived in this place, since there are no bones; however, the dating most likely refers to Homo erectus or Homo ergaster .

The site was flooded in 1999 as the Jordan deepened and thus destroyed.

Finds

The site contained evidence of the earliest controlled use of fire outside of Africa. Burned remains of edible plants served as evidence: wild barley ( Hordeum spontaneum ) and wood from wild olive trees ( Olea europaea subsp. Oleaster ) and wild grapevines (Vitis sylvestris) from 780,000 year old soil layers.

Since the site was in a wetland, organic substances (wood, bark, fruits and seeds) brought in by the residents have been preserved in an excellent way. A study published in 2016 identified almost 21,000 such “macro residues” down to the level of the genus or even the species . A total of 117 taxa (78 species and 39 other genera) have been documented, including more than 9,000 “macro residues” of at least 55 species that were edible. From these findings it was deduced that there was already extensive knowledge about edible plants at this time and that these were also used as food.

literature

Naama Goren-Inbar, Ella Werker, Craig S. Feibel: The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: the Wood Assemblage. Volume I. Oxbow Books Limited, 2002
Nira Alperson-Afil, Naama Goren-Inbar: The Acheulian Site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Volume II: Ancient Flames and Controlled Use of Fire. Springer, 2010.
Rabinovich, R., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler, L., Goren-Inbar, N .: The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Volume III: Mammalian Taphonomy. The assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6. Springer, Dordrecht, 2011.

Web links

Israeli Project Page (in English)

Individual evidence

↑ Naama Goren-Inba et al .: Pleistocene Milestones on the Out-of-Africa Corridor at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: Science . Volume 289, No. 5481, 2000, pp. 944-947, doi: 10.1126 / science.289.5481.944
↑ ^a ^b ^c Naama Goren-Inbar et al .: Evidence of Hominin Control of Fire at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: Science . Volume 304, 2004, pp. 725-727, doi : 10.1126 / science.1095443
^ Yoel Melamed et al .: The plant component of an Acheulian diet at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: PNAS . Online advance publication of December 5, 2016, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1607872113
The real Paleo diet. Archaeologists find 780,000-year-old remains of prehistoric man's meal. On: Haaretz.com from December 5, 2016

[1] Naama Goren-Inba et al .: Pleistocene Milestones on the Out-of-Africa Corridor at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: Science . Volume 289, No. 5481, 2000, pp. 944-947, doi: 10.1126 / science.289.5481.944

[Goren-Inbar-2] Naama Goren-Inbar et al .: Evidence of Hominin Control of Fire at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: Science . Volume 304, 2004, pp. 725-727, doi : 10.1126 / science.1095443

[3] Yoel Melamed et al .: The plant component of an Acheulian diet at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. In: PNAS . Online advance publication of December 5, 2016, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1607872113
The real Paleo diet. Archaeologists find 780,000-year-old remains of prehistoric man's meal. On: Haaretz.com from December 5, 2016