-
TABUN
LOCATION
Mugharet et-Tabiin cave in the Wadi el-Mughara,
facing the Mediterranean on the western flank of the
Mount Carmel range, about 19 km S of Haifa, Israel.
DISCOVERY
Excavations directed by D. Garrod, 1929-1934.MATEFUAL
Fragmentary skull and partial broken skeleton of a
small individual, presumed to be female (Tabiin I,
aka Tab% Cl); mandible of more robust individual,
presumed male (Tabiin 11). Also various teeth, and
maxillary and postcranial fragments.DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The high but shallow cave of Tabiin produced an ex-
tensive sequence of Lower and Middle Paleolithic age
(Garrod and Bate, 1937; McCown and Keith, 1939).
The principal fossils, Tabiin I and 11, were both recov-
ered from layer C of the sequence, although it is possible
that Tabiin I was an intrusive burial from layer B (Gar-
rod and Bate, 1937), a notion supported by Bar Yosef
and Callander (1999) and Griin and Stringer (2000).
More fragmentary remains were recovered from higher
in the sequence, mainly level B. Jelinek (e.g., Jelinek et
al., 1973) refined the stratigraphy of the cave, proposing
correlations whereby layers B and C could date between
about 40 and 60 Ka. More recently, Griin et al. (1991)
ran ESR dates on artiodactyl teeth that suggested a
much greater age than this (see also discussion in Griinand Stringer, 1991). A wide scattering of dates from
layer B falls within oxygen isotope stage 5, centering
around 100 Ka, while layer C dates overlap into stage 6,
125 Ka or even earlier. These ESR dates are supported
by U-series results on the same sample set (McDermott
et al., 1993) that include dates for layer C at around 100
Ka. However, TL dates on burned ant suggest even
greater antiquity (Mercier et al., 1995), with the bottom
of layer C coming in at 171 5 17 Ka. The latest analy-
ses of Griin and Stringer (2000) fairly confidently sup-
port a date of 122 f- 16 Ka. Dates for the underlying
beds D and E suggested that the Levalloiso-Mousterian
was established at Tabiin by well over 200 Ka; this fits
well with early Mousterian dates from other regions.
Mercier et al. proposed that the TL dates had higher re-
liability than those by ESR and U-series (which they re-
gard as minimum dates), due to better measurement of
external radiation dose (in situ rather than on sediment
adherent to specimens). Given the uncertainty of prove-
nance of the Tabin 1 burial, Schwarcz et d. (1998) sub-
jected the mandible of Tabiin I to U-series analyses via
direct gamma-ray spectrometry, deriving dates of 34 and
70 Ka depending on uptake model. Results on the fe-
mur led them to prefer the younger date. However, cau-
tion has been urged in accepting this analysis (Millard
and Pike, 1999), and Griin and Stringer (2000) have
argued strongly for the date of 122 5 16 Ka.ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
The more than 20 meters of sediments at Tabiin
have provided a yardstick for the Levantine lithic384