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Located in Israel, on the SW shore of the Sea of Galilee Ohalo II is renowned for its role in providing valuable insights into prehistoric human life. And, that is carbon dated to 23000BP. (1) Some 11000 years, before the onset of agriculture

The significance lies in well-preserved remnants of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer settlement
The site was discovered in 1989, when an extended drought, dropped the water levels in the sea of Galilee 9 meters.
The exceptional preservation of organic materials is attributed to the site’s unique environmental conditions

At the time hunter-gatherers settled down. The sea of Galilee was newly formed. It must have been attractive to many groups of people. Though, after a few generations the site burned to the ground. (2) Which actually wasn’t bad for us now studying it. Because not long after the fire hit. The sea of Galilee kept rising. And, deep water covered the site. Because of this. The immediate deposition of fine clay and silt now covered the site, preserving it. The charred combined, with the sedimentation. Likely slowing the growth of bacteria. Helping preserve the site at the lakes bottom. (3) Until it dried up again in 1989.(4) So we could better understand it today.
It is possible that the rise in sea level. Was made possible by either an increase in global temperature. At the end of the last glacial period. Or, hit by an earthquake, that could have changed the flow of waters into the sea of Galilee (3)
The remains were wooden structures including buildings and architecture; plant remains, animal bones including what could provide dietary analysis; and, other artifacts including flint


Buildings and architecture
At the site are remains of six charcoal rings where brushwood dwellings were. Huts were oval in shape and average between 9 and 16 feet long. They were simple. And, constructed of tree branches and brushwood.
Hearths were located outside the huts.
In addition to the huts, the site also contains a dump
Littered with flints, animal bones, and remnants of fruit and cereal grains. Hundreds of species of birds, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and large animals have been identified.
The site spanned 2000 square meters (almost 7000 sq feet), (3) revealing well-preserved materials. Including how people may have survived during one of earths coolest time periods (LGM)
Scientists discovered what they believe to be the earliest form of bedding. (5)
Plant remains
One of the huts also revealed over 90,000 seeds. Including a marked preference of certain species like rubus (raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries)
Archaeologists accounted for more than 100 species of wild barley and fruits
Making it likely they were deposited there by someone.

In combination with a well used grinding stone, probably indicate the processing of plant materials for food, and medicine
It further explains extensive preparation and livability of the site.
The site provides some of the earliest evidence of plant cultivation, including the harvesting and processing of wild cereals, such as barley and wheat
A starch grain study confuted grains were found on surface of grinding stones. (6)
A follow up conducted further study on the grinding stone. Providing further evidence of wild barley, wheat, oats and other grains. (7) The studies suggests an earlier date humans were transitioning from a purely hunting, and gathering; to more complex subsistence strategies like baking.
Animal bones reveals information including better dietary analysis
Fish from the nearby Sea of Galilee were a significant part of their diet. Other animals were hunted nearby. And, as evidence of waste found in the dump pile.
It is believed to have been a seasonal camp
Evidence suggests people returned to the site during specific times of the year, likely in response to the availability of resources. And, when traveling to other nearby lakes, and mountains.
Other artifacts, including flint were found at the site
Represents all stages of flint harvesting: blades, flakes, and micrographs of primary elements were found. And, cores, plus there trimming elements.

Use-wear analysis of some of the glossed blades shows evidence of the earliest cereal harvesting tools
The wear indicate tools were used for harvesting near ripe semi green wild cereals. And, reflecting two harvesting modes. Flint knives held by hand; and, inserts hafted in a handle.
It sheds light on techniques some 8000 years before natufian culture
And, 12,000 before others in Mesopotamia and the near east. (8)
It maybe the first evidence of separate male and female working areas
The spatial distribution of a flintknapping area; and, a grinding stone spot. May represent gender roles in distinct parts of the huts used for different purposes. (9)
Wooden structures including buildings and architecture; plant remains, animal bones including what could provide dietary analysis; and, other artifacts including flint. Provide valuable insights into the cultural practices and daily lives of the prehistoric people who lived at Ohalo II, 23000 years ago.
The site is significant for two findings which are the world’s oldest: the earliest brushwood dwellings; and earliest small scale plant cultivation. Believed to be some 11,000 years before the onset of the neolithic age and agriculture.
The site is important not only important for its archaeological significance but also for what it tells us about an earlier transition, from nomadic hunting and gathering to more settled, agricultural societies. It sheds light on the early stages of human civilization and the development of agriculture in the Levant region.

Cite: 1) Mithen, Steven (2006). After the ice : a global human history, 20.000–5.000 BC (https://archiv
e.org/details/aftericeglobalhu00mith/page/517) (1. paperback ed.). Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press. pp. 517 (https://archive.org/details/aftericeglobalhu0
0mith/page/517). ISBN 0-674-01570-3.
2) Mithen, Steven (2006). After the ice : a global human history, 20.000–5.000 BC (https://archiv
e.org/details/aftericeglobalhu00mith/page/20) (1. paperback ed.). Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press. pp. 20 (https://archive.org/details/aftericeglobalhu00
mith/page/20). ISBN 0-674-01570-3.
3) Krause, L. (2001). Galilee’s Receding Waters Reveal Stone Age Camp. National Geographic.
1–4. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/01/0102galilee.html
4) Powell, A. (2004, July). Harvard Researchers Push Human Cereal Use Back 10,000 Years.
Retrieved from http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/07.22/07-grain.html
5) Nadel, D., Weiss, E., Simchoni, O., Tsatskin, A., Danin, A., Kislev, M. (2004) From the Cover:
Stone Age Hut in Israel Yields World’s Oldest Evidence of Bedding. The National Academy
of Sciences.101, 6821
6) Piperno, D.R., Weiss, E., Holst, I., Nadel, D. (2004) Starch grains on a ground stone
implement document Upper Paleolithic wild cereal processing at Ohalo II, Israel, Nature
7) Dani Nadel, Dolores R. Piperno, Irene Holst, Ainit Snir and Ehud Weiss (2012). New
evidence for the processing of wild cereal grains at Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old campsite
on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Antiquity. 86. 990–100 https://doi.org/10.1017
/S0003598X00048201
8) Nadel, Dani; Weiss, Ehud; Groman-Yaroslavski, Iris (23 November 2016). “Composite
Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Israel” (https://www.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5120854). PLOS ONE. 11 (11): e0167151.
Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1167151G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016PLoSO..1167151
G). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0167151).
ISSN 1932-6203 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1932-6203). PMC 5120854 (https://www.n
cbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5120854). PMID 27880839 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/27880839).
9) Compiled largely with reference to: Weiss, E.; Kislev, M. E.; Simchoni, O.; Nadel, D.;
Tschauner, H. (2008), “Plant-food preparation area on an Upper Paleolithic brush hut floor
at Ohalo II, Israel”, Journal of Archaeological Science, 35 (8): 2400–2414,
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.03.012 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jas.2008.03.012)
Bibliography:
Krause, L. (2001). Galilee’s Receding Waters Reveal Stone Age Camp. National Geographic. 1–4. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/01/0102galilee.html
Nadel, D., Weiss, E., Simchoni, O., Tsatskin, A., Danin, A., Kislev, M. (2004) From the Cover:Stone Age Hut in Israel Yields World’s Oldest Evidence of Bedding. The National Academyof Sciences.101, 6821
Mithen, Steven (2006). After the ice : a global human history, 20.000–5.000 BC (https://archive.org/details/aftericeglobalhu00mith/page/21) (1. paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press. pp. 21, 22 (https://archive.org/details/aftericeglobalhu00mith/page/21). ISBN 0-674-01570-3.
Nadel, Dani; Weiss, Ehud; Groman-Yaroslavski, Iris (23 November 2016). “Composite Sickles and Cereal Harvesting Methods at 23,000-Years-Old Ohalo II, Israel” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5120854). PLOS ONE. 11 (11): e0167151.Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1167151G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016PLoSO..1167151
G). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167151 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0167151).
ISSN 1932-6203 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1932-6203). PMC 5120854 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5120854). PMID 27880839 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27880839).
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