The completely submerged late Pre-Pottery Neolithic (6900 - 6300 BC) village of Atlit-Yam has been making news with a Jerusalem Post article this week. Discovered just 400 meter off the coast of Atlit by Israel Antiquities Authority’s marine archaeologist, Dr Ehud Galili, the 9,000 year old site lies about 10 kilometers south of Haifa. It covers an area of 40,000 square meters and is about 8 – 12 meters below sea level. Here is an extract…
The Atlit site is the only one in the world to have uncovered such a complete submerged village, and is also the only one known to contain undisturbed burials… Floral and faunal remains suggest that the village sustained itself on hunting, herding, farming and fishing. Evidence of maritime activity, domestication of animals and plants, and the use of the water tables on the stone-built wells show a sophisticated level of civilization…
Galili is convinced that 9,000 years ago, Atlit-Yam was a thriving maritime community in a location rich in resources – fish, barley, lentils and wheat grown on the fertile drained swampland and freshwater springs. The inhabitants of Atlit-Yam appear to have had a healthy diet of meat, fish, legumes and grains, as well as fruit. In addition, the distance between the remains of domesticated animals (with a high percentage of pigs and goats) from those of wild ones suggests that farming methods at that time included raising animals. Evidence of pollen from olive trees has also been found, but the lack of pits at Atlit-Yam indicates that it took another millennium before olives were pressed for oil – whereas exploration at the later Neolithic Period at Neveh Yam, just round the bay from Atlit-Yam, as well as at Kfar Samir, Kfar Galim and Megadim on the coast south of Haifa, has revealed thousands of olive pits and evidence of waste from olive-oil production…
The site provides evidence for the earliest known agro-pastoral-fishing subsistence system on the Levantine coast. For the full story, you can click here.
The Wikipedia article is interesting too and can be read here.
Filed under: Archaeology
