Ohalo II

Ohalo II
LocationNorthern District, Israel
Coordinates32°43′20″N 35°34′20″E / 32.722093°N 35.572143°E / 32.722093; 35.572143
TypeArchaeological site
History
Foundedc.23,000 years ago
Site notes
Discovered1989
Excavation dates1989-1991, 1999-2000

Ohalo II is an archaeological site in the Northern District, Israel, near Kinneret, on the southwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is one of the best preserved hunter-gatherer archaeological sites of the Last Glacial Maximum, radiocarbon dated to around 23,000 BP (calibrated). It is at the junction of the Upper Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic, and has been attributed to both periods. The site is significant for two findings which are the world's oldest: the earliest brushwood dwellings and evidence for the earliest small-scale plant cultivation, some 11,000 years before the onset of agriculture. The numerous fruit and cereal grain remains preserved in anaerobic conditions under silt and water are also exceedingly rare due to their general quick decomposition.