30 i Flora Unveiled
Mount Carmel in northern Israel is actually a mountain range that begins on the
Mediterranean coast, where Haifa perches on its northern slope, and stretches southeast
about 15 miles toward Megiddo. The name is derived from the Hebrew word HaKarmel,
which means “fresh- planted garden or vineyard.” During the period of the British Mandate
following World War I, plans were made to build a large harbor in Haifa using stone quar-
ried from the Carmel range. Massive construction of the port of Haifa did, in fact, begin
late in 1928, and much of the stone was quarried from the Wadi el- Mughara, the site of
four archaeologically significant caves in Mount Carmel. Fortunately, E. T. Richmond,
the Director of Antiquities, ordered preliminary surveys to be conducted of the caves, the
results of which clearly demonstrated the presence of abundant artifacts from the Upper
Paleolithic. A rescue operation was urgently needed to document and preserve whatever
prehistoric artifacts were present.
In April of 1929, Garrod began excavating “The Valley of the Caves” in Mount Carmel. In
the largest cave of the group, the Mugharet el- Wad, she and her coworkers struck pay dirt.^3
Although the stratigraphic levels were badly disturbed in most places, they found a site on
the right side of the cave where level B, a 50 cm layer of black earth, was still intact, and it con-
tained microlithic implements similar to those Garrod had found at the Shukba cave. The
B layer also contained tools— sickle blades along with their bone handles— confirming that
these Late Upper Paleolithic gatherers practiced an incipient form of agriculture (Figure 3.1).
Like the blades found at Shukba, the blades at Mugharet el- Wad were glossy, as if they
had been polished. This high gloss was shown to be the result of abrasion from cereal grass
stalks, which are naturally impregnated with tiny glass particles (silicon dioxide) called phy-
toliths. Microscopic analyses suggested that the sickles were used mainly to harvest wild
wheat in addition to other wild species, including brome grass, barley, oats, and legumes.
Figure 3.1 Sickle blades and bone handles from the Mugharet el- Wad cave.
From Garrod, D. A. E. (1932), figure 2.