Excavations
BIZAT RUHAMA (Israel)
Bizat Ruhama is a single-horizon open-air site located in a badland landscape in the southern coastal plain of Israel. The archaeological horizon is at the base of 17 m thick sedimentary sequence composed of loess, clays, and sands. The site is assigned to the Matuyama reverse polarity chron. Equus cf. tabeti, and antelope Pontoceros ambiguus or Spirocerus sp. remains also points to an Early Pleistocene age. The fauna of Bizat Ruhama belongs to the same faunal unit as 'Ubeidiya and predates the Jaramillo normal event. The site represents a short-term occupation in an inter-dune depression, where animal carcasses were processed on site along with stone knapping activities. Micromorphological and faunal evidence indicate an open, poorly vegetated, semi-arid environment with patchy water sources. The lithic assemblage is composed of cores, flakes and secondarily knapped flakes. The bipolar technique was often used, and the goal of the knapping was to produce sharp-edged flakes. Technological simplicity, use of bipolar technique, and absence of large flake technology and of bifacial knapping suggest that the site represents an Oldowan dispersal out of Africa.
NESHER RAMLA (Israel)
Human occupations at Nesher Ramla were discovered in a funnel-shaped depression in a limestone quarry near the modern city of Ramla, Israel. The site’s 8m thick Middle Paleolithic sequence comprises six geo-archaeological units (Units I–VI) that vary significantly in the density and types of finds and the presence of features, suggesting that the site’s role in the MP settlement system of the southern Levant shifted several times. Ongoing studies of the site make use of extensive datasets encompassing chipped stone tools, percussive tools, fauna, flora (charcoal remains), and combustion features. Together, they constitute one of the most important MP archaeological and environmental records of MIS 6 and 5 in southwest Asia. The use of the centripetal Levallois flaking system and the production of tools with lateral tranchet blows are the main characteristics of the technological behaviors of the Nesher Ramla populations.
The site is also known for the discovery of the Nesher Ramla Homo, fossils of a late MP human group, which were found in Unit VI, dated to 135–120 ky. This discovery suggests a chronological overlap with H. sapiens in southwest Asia and places Nesher Ramla at the center of the debate on MP archaic and modern human interactions.
TINSHEMET CAVE (Israel)
Tinshemet Cave is located on the east bank of the Bet-Arif stream in central Israel. Excavations at the site (2016–2024) have revealed abundant evidence of Middle Paleolithic human occupation, recovered from the cave’s first chamber and on its terrace. The terrace consists of lithified sediments (breccia), ca. 1.5–1.8 m thick, extending over 25 m². Presently, these deposits are divided into three major stratigraphic units (A, B & C). OSL and TL dating provided ages of 120-90 ky, assigning the human use of the cave to the MIS 5.​ The cave’s terrace yielded rich lithic assemblages dominated by the centripetal Levallois knapping technology, substantial faunal assemblages, the largest Levantine MP ochre collection to date, a unique assemblage of basalt pebbles (N=5), and the remains of two human individuals, likely burials. The first chamber is a narrow passage excavated down to a large rock shelf, probably bedrock. It contains lithic and faunal remains and several human fossils. The excavation is ongoing and takes place every summer.
SOII HAVZAK (Tajikistan)
Soii Havzak rockshelter, discovered in 2022, is a new stratified Paleolithic site in the Zeravshan River Valley, Tajikistan. The site contains several phases of Paleolithic occupations rich in lithics, fauna, and charcoal remains. The Zeravshan Valley, despite its environmental advantages for Paleolithic occupations, was not systematically explored for the presence of Paleolithic sites. The recently discovered site of Soii Havzak located in the upper part of Zeravshan Valley, is one of the very few multi-layered stratified Paleolithic sites found in Central Asia. The excavations began in 2023 and will continue this coming September (2025).
Bizat Ruhama Publications
Mallol, C., VanNieuwenhuyse, D., Zaidner, Y., 2011. Depositional and Paleoenvironmental setting of the Bizat Ruhama early pleistocene archaeological assemblages, Northern Negev, Israel: A microstratigraphic perspective. Geoarchaeology 26, 118–141. doi:10.1002/gea.20339
Zaidner, Y. 2014. Lithic Production Strategies at the Early Pleistocene Site of Bizat Ruhama, Israel. BAR publishing
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Zaidner, Y., 2013. Adaptive Flexibility of Oldowan Hominins: Secondary Use of Flakes at Bizat Ruhama, Israel. PLOS ONE 8, e66851. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066851
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Yeshurun, R., Zaidner, Y., Eisenmann, V., Martínez-Navarro, B., Bar-Oz, G., 2010. Lower Paleolithic hominin ecology at the fringe of the desert: Faunal remains from Bizat Ruhama and Nahal Hesi, Northern Negev, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution, Special Issue: Early-Middle Pleistocene palaeoenvironments in the Levant 60, 492–507. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.01.008
Nesher Ramla Publications
Centi, L., Valletta, F., Zaidner, Y., 2023. To Err Is Human: Knapping Expertise and Technological Variability at the Middle Palaeolithic Site of Nesher Ramla, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 30, 103–126. doi:10.1007/s10816-022-09594-2​
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Centi, L., Zaidner, Y., 2021. The Levallois Flaking System in Nesher Ramla Upper Sequence. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 4, 9. doi:10.1007/s41982-021-00088-3
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Centi, L., Zaidner, Y., 2022. Variations in lithic artefact density as a tool for better understanding Middle Palaeolithic human behaviour: the case of Nesher Ramla (Israel). Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.03.025
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Centi, L., Groman-Yaroslavski, I., Friedman, N., Oron, M., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., 2019. The bulb retouchers in the Levant: New insights into Middle Palaeolithic retouching techniques and mobile tool-kit composition. PLOS ONE 14. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0218859
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Crater Gershtein, K.M., Zaidner, Y., Yeshurun, R., 2022. A campsite on the open plain: Zooarchaeology of Unit III at the Middle Paleolithic site of Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.01.026
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Allué, E., Zaidner, Y., 2022. The charcoal assemblage from Nesher Ramla, Israel: A contribution to the paleo-environmental dataset from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 in the Levant. Quaternary International, Technological Organization, Mobility, and Behavior at the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla 624, 117–127. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.04.025
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Groman-Yaroslavski, I., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., 2022. Tool wielding and activities at the Middle Paleolithic site of Nesher Ramla, Israel: A use-wear analysis of major tool types from unit III. Quaternary International, Technological Organization, Mobility, and Behavior at the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla 624, 67–79. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.041
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Orbach, M., Hartman, G., Rivals, F., Zeigen, C., Zaidner, Y., Yeshurun, R., 2024. Death at the water hole: Opportunistic hunting and scavenging events in the upper sequence of Middle Paleolithic Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews 339. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108852
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Paixão, E., Pedergnana, A., Marreiros, J., Dubreuil, L., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., Carver, G., Gneisinger, W., 2021. Using mechanical experiments to study ground stone tool use: Exploring the formation of percussive and grinding wear traces on limestone tools. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 37. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102971
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Paixão, E., Marreiros, J., Dubreuil, L., Gneisinger, W., Carver, G., Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., 2022. The Middle Paleolithic ground stones tools of Nesher Ramla unit V (Southern Levant): A multi-scale use-wear approach for assessing the assemblage functional variability. Quaternary International, Technological Organization, Mobility, and Behavior at the Middle Paleolithic Site of Nesher Ramla 624, 94–106. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.06.009
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Pietraszek, A.V., Zaidner, Y., Shahack-Gross, R., 2022. The distribution and treatment of fire remains across Unit V of the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.027
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Prévost, M., Zaidner, Y., 2020. New insights into early MIS 5 lithic technological behavior in the Levant: Nesher Ramla, Israel as a case study. PLOS ONE 15. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231109
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Prévost, M., Groman-Yaroslavski, I., Crater Gershtein, K.M., Tejero, J.-M., Zaidner, Y., 2022a. Early evidence for symbolic behavior in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic: A 120 ka old engraved aurochs bone shaft from the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.01.002
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Prévost, M., Centi, L., Zaidner, Y., 2022b. The use of the lateral tranchet blow technique at Nesher Ramla (Israel): a new cultural marker in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic? Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.008
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Tsatskin, A., Zaidner, Y., 2014. Geoarchaeological context of the later phases of Mousterian occupation (80–115 ka) at Nesher Ramla, Israel: Soil erosion, deposition and pedogenic processes. Quaternary International 331, 103–114. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.10.050
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Varoner, O., Marder, O., Orbach, M., Yeshurun, R., Zaidner, Y., 2021. Lithic provisioning strategies at the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel: A case study from the upper sequence. Quaternary International. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.08.008
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Zaidner, Y., Grosman, L., 2015. Middle Paleolithic sidescrapers were resharped or recycled? A view from Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary International, The Origins of Recycling: A Paleolithic Perspective 361, 178–187. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.037
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Zaidner, Y., Frumkin, A., Porat, N., Tsatskin, A., Yeshurun, R., Weissbrod, L., 2014. A series of Mousterian occupations in a new type of site: The Nesher Ramla karst depression, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution 66, 1–17. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.06.005
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Zaidner, Y., Frumkin, A., Friesem, D., Tsatskin, A., Shahack-Gross, R., 2016. Landscapes, depositional environments and human occupation at Middle Paleolithic open-air sites in the southern Levant, with new insights from Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews 138, 76–86. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.02.016
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Zaidner, Y., Centi, L., Prévost, M., Mercier, N., Falguères, C., Guérin, G., Valladas, H., Richard, M., Galy, A., Pécheyran, C., Tombret, O., Pons-Branchu, E., Porat, N., Shahack-Gross, R., Friesem, D.E., Yeshurun, R., Turgeman-Yaffe, Z., Frumkin, A., Herzlinger, G., Ekshtain, R., Shemer, M., Varoner, O., Sarig, R., May, H., Hershkovitz, I., 2021. Middle Pleistocene Homo behavior and culture at 140,000 to 120,000 years ago and interactions with Homo sapiens. Science 372, 1429–1433. doi:10.1126/science.abh3020
Tinshemet Cave Publications
​Zaidner, Y., Prévost, M., Shahack-Gross, R., Weissbrod, L., Yeshurun, R., Porat, N., Guérin, G., Mercier, N., Galy, A., Pécheyran, C., Barbotin, G., Tribolo, C., Valladas, H., White, D., Timms, R., Blockley, S., Frumkin, A., Gaitero-Santos, D., Ilani, S., Ben-Haim, S., Pedergnana, A., Pietraszek, A.V., García, P., Nicosia, C., Lagle, S., Varoner, O., Zeigen, C., Langgut, D., Crouvi, O., Borgel, S., Sarig, R., May, H., Hershkovitz, I., 2025. Evidence from Tinshemet Cave in Israel suggests behavioural uniformity across Homo groups in the Levantine mid-Middle Palaeolithic circa 130,000–80,000 years ago. Nature Human Behaviour 1–16. doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02110-y
García, P., Zaidner, Y., Nicosia, C., Shahack-Gross, R., 2025. Site Formation Processes at Tinshemet Cave, Israel: Micro-Stratigraphy, Fire Use, and Cementation. Geoarchaeology 40. doi:10.1002/gea.22023
Soii Havzak Publications
Zaidner, Y., Kurbanov, S., 2024. Soii Havzak: a new Palaeolithic sequence in Zeravshan Valley, central Tajikistan. Antiquity 1–8. doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.149