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SKHUL
LOCATION
Mugharet es-Skhiil rockshelter in the Wadi el-
Mughara on the western flank of the Mount Carmel
Range, 19 km S of Haifa, Israel.
DISCOVERY
Excavations directed by D. Garrod, 1931-1932.
MATERLAL
Skeletons, varying greatly in completeness and quality
of preservation, of at least 10 adults (Skhiil 11-VI, IX)
and juveniles (SkhUl I, VIII, X).
Best preserved skeletons are Skhiil IV and V.
Much of the detailed morphology is poorly preserved,
a situation exacerbated by brutal preparation of the
specimens.
DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
Several brecciated layers were found below the rock-
shelter floor, the hominid remains all being found in
layer B of the sequence. Faunal dating produced a
wide range of estimates for the age of the skeletons;
but more recent ESR studies on teeth from layer B
(Stringer et al., 1989; Griin and Stringer, 1991)
yielded mean dates of 81 and 101 Ka, depending on
uptake model, thereby suggesting a probable stage 5
age for the skeletons. McDermott et al. (1993) used
the same specimens to obtain wildly varying U-series
dates ranging from 88-46 Ka on the early uptake
model, and 102-66 Ka based on late uptake. This ledthem to resurrect McCown’s notion (in Garrod and
Bate, 1937) that both earlier (SkhUl 111, VI-X) and
later (SkhUl I, IV, V) assemblages might be repre-
sented in layer B. However, six burned flints from
level B later produced a scatter of TL dates ranging
between 99 and 167 Ka, centering on 119 Ka
(Mercier et al., 1993). A stage 5 age for all the burials
at Skhiil remains most probable at present.ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
A great abundance of Middle Paleolithic lithics was
recovered from layer B (Garrod and Bate, 1937). In
general, this industry is of a Levantine Mousterian
closely comparable to that found in Tabiin level C and
in the lower levels at Qafzeh, in which the human
remains were concentrated. It is believed that many
of the SkhUl individuals, at least, were intentionally
buried (Garrod and Bate, 1937); and, when excavated,
one adult skeleton (Skhiil V) appeared to be holding
a wild boar jaw to its chest.PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
McCown and Keith (1939), the initial describers of
this material, were clearly conflicted about its affinities
(see discussion in Tattersall, 1995), but in the end de-
cided that the Skhiil fossils belonged to the same
population as the Tabiin specimens: a variable popula-
tion (Palaeoanthropus palestinensis) somehow involved
in a transition from Neanderthal to modern type.
Wolpoff (1980) supported a variant of this view, but
most subsequent authors have preferred to separate358