Zuttiyeh, Archaeological cave site in Upper Galilee, Israel.
Zuttiyeh, also called the Cave of the Robbers or Skull Cave, is a prehistoric cave site on a limestone cliff above Nahal Amud in Upper Galilee, Israel. Its opening faces southwest; the chamber is 18 m wide and 19 m deep, about 30–40 m above the wadi bed. Three other caves with prehistoric remains lie along the same cliff.
The first scientific excavations took place in the 1920s and uncovered evidence of early human presence in the region. Later work confirmed that the site was used across several prehistoric periods.
The cave is called Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, "Cave of the Robbers", and also the Skull Cave after its 1925 find. The skull is kept at the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem, while a cast is displayed at the Israel Museum. The cave itself is not open to the public.
The cave is not open to the public, so it can only be viewed from outside; the entrance faces southwest, about 30–40 m above the Nahal Amud streambed. The skull itself is kept at the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem, and a cast is displayed at the Israel Museum.
A fossilized human skull found here in 1925 is among the oldest human remains discovered in Western Asia. It is still known as the Galilee Man, though researchers continue to debate exactly where it fits in human evolution.
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