Manot Cave, Seasons 2011–2012

In July 2011 and July 2012, two seasons of excavation were conducted in Manot Cave (License Nos. G-60/2011, G-61/2012; map ref. 21835-45/77105-15). The excavations, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Tel Aviv University and funded by the Dan David Foundation, the Irene Levi-Sala Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority, were directed by O. Barzilai, O. Marder and I. Hershkovitz, with the assistance of R. Lavi, M. Goder, D. Igorov, G. Herzlinger and R. Ben Lulu (area supervision), D. Vaknin (administration), V. Essman and Y. Shmidov (surveying and drafting), B. Langford, M. Ulman and U. Davidovich (mapping), H. Ashkenazi and N. Schneller Pels (laboratory), L. Barda (map) and C. Amit (photographs) and students and volunteers from the universities of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ben-Gurion and Bar-Ilan, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio. Research partners included A. Ayalon, M. Bar-Matthews, A. Matthews and G. Yas'ur (Geological Survey of Israel), G. Bar-Oz, R. Yeshurun and N. Schneller Pels (Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa), E. Boaretto and V. Caracuta (D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weizmann - Max Planck Center for Integrative Archeology, Weizmann Institute of Science), B. Alex (Harvard University), S. Weiner (Kimmel Center for Archaeological Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science), F. Berna (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada), A. Frumkin (Department of Geography, Hebrew University), D. Bar-Yosef (Tel Aviv University), U. Weiss (Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University) and B. Latimer (Case Western Reserve University). We extend our thanks to Y. Ya'aqobi, Y. Lerer, E. Stern and D. Barshad (the IAA Northern Region Office) for their support during the excavation seasons, to the Jewish National Fund for financing the opening of an operative entrance into the cave and to S. Dora and O. Boneh of that organization for undertaking that project.