Tabun cave, Prehistoric cave in Mount Carmel, Israel

Tabun Cave is a karstic cave on Mount Carmel's western slope, about 17 km south of Haifa and 4 km east of the Mediterranean shore, at roughly 60 m above sea level. It has three chambers—outer, middle and inner—each with a swallow hole in its floor; the ceilings of the outer and middle chambers collapsed long ago, while the inner chamber retains a ceiling with a chimney about 8 m in diameter. The photograph shows the irregular cave mouth, stepped sediment layers, two white measuring scales and a metal ladder on the left wall.

Archaeological excavations in the 1930s uncovered evidence of human settlement spanning hundreds of thousands of years within the cave layers. The deposits reveal how inhabitants adapted to shifts in their environment over these vast time periods.

The Arabic name Magharat at-Tabun means "the Oven Cave", and the Hebrew name is Me'arat Tanur, also "Oven Cave". The name refers to the chimney-like opening about 8 metres across in the ceiling of the inner chamber, which resembles a baker's oven. Fallow deer bones concentrated beneath this opening suggest animals fell through it and were butchered inside.

Tabun Cave sits about 17 km south of Haifa and 4 km east of the present Mediterranean shore, roughly 60 m above sea level, at the foot of Mount Carmel's western escarpment. The cave has three chambers; the ceilings of the outer and middle ones have collapsed, and the inner chamber keeps a chimney about 8 m across. Expect uneven sediment floors and standing measuring scales in the deposits.

The rear chamber keeps its ceiling, pierced by a chimney about eight metres across. Fallow deer bones cluster beneath it: the opening may have worked as a natural trap, with animals driven towards it falling in to be butchered. The Tabun 1 Neanderthal skull, found here in 1929, is now in the British Museum.