Definition
‘Ubeidiya is a Lower Pleistocene archaeological site located in the Jordan Valley, 3 km south of the shores of the present-day Sea of Galilee (Figure 1). The site represents a fluviolacustrine stratified sequence of tilted graben sediments known as the ‘Ubeidiya Formation (Picard and Baida, 1966). This formation, which has been dated by paleomagnetism and biochronology to ca. 1.6–1.2 Ma (Tchernov, 1986, 1987; Braun et al., 1991; Verosub and Tchernov, 1991; Heimann and Braun, 2000; Belmaker et al., 2002; Feibel, 2004; Sagi et al., 2005), is faulted and folded as part of an anticline that strikes to the NNE, forming minor anticlines and synclines at the site. As a result, the ‘Ubeidiya stratigraphic layers are tilted, some of them up to 90°. The ‘Ubeidiya Formation comprises four members representing an alternation of fluvial (F) and limnic (L) facies with a total thickness of about 154 m; in stratigraphic order from lower to upper, they are Li (52 m), Fi (20–30 m), Lu (56...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Bar-Yosef, O., 1989. The excavations at ‘Ubeidiya in retrospect: an eclectic view. In Bar-Yosef, O., and Vandermeersch, B. (eds.), Investigations in South Levantine Prehistory. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Vol. 497, pp. 101–111.
Bar-Yosef, O., 1994. The Lower Paleolithic of the Near East. Journal of World Prehistory, 8(3), 211–265.
Bar-Yosef, O., and Goren-Inbar, N., 1993. The Lithic Assemblages of ‘Ubeidiya: A Lower Palaeolithic Site in the Jordan Valley. Jerusalem: The Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Bar-Yosef, O., and Tchernov, E., 1972. On the Palaeo-Ecological History of the Site of ‘Ubeidiya. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Belmaker, M., 2006. Community Structure Through Time: ‘Ubeidiya, a Lower Pleistocene Site as a Case Study. PhD dissertation. Jerusalem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Belmaker, M., Tchernov, E., Condemi, S., and Bar-Yosef, O., 2002. New evidence for hominid presence in the Lower Pleistocene of the Southern Levant. Journal of Human Evolution, 43(1), 43–56.
Braun, D., Ron, H., and Marco, S., 1991. Magnetostratigraphy of the hominid tool-bearing Erk el Ahmar formation in the northern Dead Sea Rift. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences, 40, 191–197.
Feibel, C. S., 2004. Quaternary lake margins of the Levant rift valley. In Goren-Inbar, N., and Speth, J. D. (eds.), Human Paleoecology in the Levantine Corridor. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 21–36.
Heimann, A., and Braun, D., 2000. Quaternary stratigraphy of the Kinnarot Basin, Dead Sea Transform, northeastern Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences, 49(1), 31–44.
Mallol, C., 2006. What’s in a beach? Soil micromorphology of sediments from the Lower Paleolithic site of ‘Ubeidiya, Israel. Journal of Human Evolution, 51(2), 185–206.
Picard, L., and Baida, U., 1966. Geological Report on the Lower Pleistocene Deposits of the ‘Ubeidiya Excavations. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Sagi, A., Belmaker, M., Ron, H., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., and Bar-Yosef, O., 2005. Paleomagnetic dating of ‘Ubeidiya Formation. In Abramovich, S. (ed.), Abstracts of the Israel Geological Society Annual Meeting (April 5–7, 2005). Jerusalem: Israel Geological Society, p. 101.
Shea, J. J., 1999. Artifact abrasion, fluvial processes, and “living floors” from Early Paleolithic site of ‘Ubeidiya (Jordan Valley, Israel). Geoarchaeology, 14(2), 191–207.
Shea, J. J., and Bar-Yosef, O., 1999. Lithic assemblages from new (1988–1994) excavations at ‘Ubeidiya: a preliminary report. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, 28, 5–20.
Tchernov, E., 1986. The Lower Pleistocene Mammals of ‘Ubeidiya (Jordan Valley). Paris: Association Paléorient. Memoirs et Travaux du Centre de Recherche Français de Jerusalem, Vol. 5.
Tchernov, E., 1987. The age of ‘Ubeidiya Formation, an early Pleistocene hominid site in the Jordan Valley, Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences, 36, 3–30.
Verosub, K., and Tchernov, E., 1991. Résultats préliminaires de l’étude magnétostratigraphique d’une séquence sédimentaire à l’industrie humaine en Israël. In Bonifay, E., and Vandermeersch, B. (eds.), Les premiers Européens. Paris: Éditions du C. T. H. S, pp. 237–242.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mallol, C. (2017). ‘Ubeidiya. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_113
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_113
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4827-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4409-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences