| Skhul cave | |
| Alternate Name: | Es-Skhul Mugharet-es-Skhul |
| Map Type: | Israel |
| Map Alt: | Skhul cave |
| Map Size: | 240 |
| Relief: | yes |
| Coordinates: | 32.6707°N 34.9661°W |
| Location: | south of the city of Haifa |
| Region: | Israel |
| Epochs: | Palaeolithic |
| Cultures: | Natufian |
| Excavations: | 1928 |
| Archaeologists: | Dorothy Garrod |
Es-Skhul (es-Skhūl, Arabic: السخول; meaning kid, young goat) or the Skhul Cave is a prehistoric cave site situated about 201NaN1 south of the city of Haifa, Israel, and about 31NaN1 from the Mediterranean Sea.
Together with the nearby sites of Tabun Cave, Jamal cave, and the cave at El Wad, Skhul is part of the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve,[1] a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.[2]
The site was first excavated by Dorothy Garrod during summer of 1929. Several human skeletons were found in the cave, belonging to an ancient species of Homo sapiens. Both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans were present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago.[3]
The remains found at es-Skhul, together with those found at the other caves of Wadi el-Mughara and Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, were classified in 1939 by Arthur Keith and as Palaeoanthropus palestinensis, a descendant of Homo heidelbergensis.[4] [5] [6]