Ancient Quarry Proves Human Impact on Landscape

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem uncovered in central Israel the earliest known Neolithic quarry in the southern Levant, dating back 11,000 years. Finds from the site indicate large-scale quarrying activities to extract flint and limestone for the purpose of manufacturing working tools.

In a research paper published in the journal PLOS One, a team of archeologists, led by Dr. Leore Grosman and Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar from the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, showed how inhabitants of the Neolithic communities changed their landscape forever.

“Humans became more dominant and influential in their terrestrial landscape and Kaizer Hill quarry provides dramatic evidence to the alteration of the landscape,” said Dr. Grosman.

Kaizer Hill quarry is the first of its age, size and scope to be revealed in the southern Levant, where the Neolithic culture is believed to have begun and farming communities have developed. The introduction of farming is widely regarded as one of the biggest changes in human history, and “domestication” of the landscape was a significant process in the changing approach to nature.

A cluster of cupmarks found at the site. (Leore Grosman, Naama Goren-Inbar)

The quarry is assigned to the Neolithic Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) culture, one of the incipient cultural stages in the shift from a hunter-gatherer to a farming way of life.