Nahal Maerot was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site about a year ago, only this week a ceremony was held

On Tuesday of this week, a ceremony was held at the Nahal Caves Nature Reserve to mark the declaration of the caves as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, about a year ago. It is one of the 981 most important sites in the world.

On Tuesday 29.10/XNUMX, a solemn ceremony was held at the Nahal Ma'erot Nature Reserve to mark the declaration of the place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ceremony was attended by the Director General of the Nature and Parks Authority - Shaul Goldstein, the representative of the University of Haifa - Prof. Yossi Ben Artzi, the head of the Carmel Coast Regional Council - Carmel Sela, Secretary General of the Israeli Committee for UNESCO Dr. Dalit Atrakchi, Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron - Head of the Institute of Archeology at Haifa University and more.

Nahal Maerot, which begins its journey in the Carmel Heights and flows into the Mediterranean Sea on the Carmel Coast Plain, was declared last year (in St. Petersburg) by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a World Heritage Site. Nahal Maerot was recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for its great importance to the development of all humanity. The process of submitting the case lasted four years with the cooperation of the various bodies. The Carmel Coast Regional Council is the first council in Israel to initiate the promotion of the site for announcement.

The site now joins the glorious list of 981 sites scattered around the world including: Grand Canyon, Iguazu Falls (Brazil and Argentina), Cambodian temples, the Forbidden City in Beijing and Mount Everest.

Nahal Merat Reserve has several unique features: a group of prehistoric caves, where people lived continuously for hundreds of thousands of years. This phenomenon of human use in those caves is very rare in the world.
A sequence of archaeological layers with a thickness of 20 meters is preserved in the cave of the oven. The layers treasure in their contents remains that testify to the existence of ancient man for hundreds of thousands of years. In the reserve there is evidence of a unique encounter between two types of man: the Neanderthal and the early modern man. In addition, there is evidence of the first burials in the world, a significant step in the religious - ritual and cultural development of humans.
The Camel Cave was created during the melting process like most of the caves in Carmel. The Nahal cave, which is about 90 meters long, is the longest of the Carmel caves. Its settlement began in the Mousterian period, which began about 250 thousand years ago, followed by the Aurignacian culture, which began about 40 thousand years ago. In later stages, signs of the Natufian culture from 10-15 thousand years ago were also found, when the main activity of the settlement moved to the Natufian village in front of the cave on top of the rock step. During this period, you can see signs of the beginning of permanent settlements and a transition to agriculture such as: foundations of buildings, many burials, objects of art and decoration and intensive hunting and gathering of animals and wild grain.

Carmel Sela, head of the Coast of Carmel Regional Council: "This is great news for the Coast of Carmel and the entire State of Israel. We have the right and duty to preserve Nahal Merat for the sake of all humanity. Declaring Nahal Ma'erot as a world heritage site will help preserve the pearl of culture and position the Carmel Coast as an area of ​​international importance on any scale."

Shaul Goldstein, CEO of the Nature and Parks Authority: "We are happy and excited to inaugurate another site from the Nature and Parks Authority sites as a UNESCO World Heritage Site joining the nine sites that have been announced to date. The site joins a distinguished list of 981 sites from around the world and it is a pride for Israel that another one of its sites joins the list and will be preserved as historical evidence for future generations."

Dalit Etrakchi, Secretary General of the Israeli Committee for UNESCO: "The Israeli Committee for UNESCO is proud of the selection of the Nahal al-Ma'arat site as a World Heritage Site, the seventh in the number of World Heritage Sites in Israel. This is a great honor for the State of Israel, the Ministry of Education and the National Committee. The international recognition of the site, which is part of a research and tourism system dealing with prehistoric issues, which is not sufficiently represented in the fabric of world heritage sites, is of great importance, and Israel is one of the first to recognize the importance of the subject. Special thanks must be given to all those involved in the craft, those who led the process within the various authorities and government ministries, who supported and supported the Israeli Committee for UNESCO and the Israeli World Heritage Committee, and made it possible to reach this important moment."

Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron, head of the Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa and director of excavations at the site for many years: "Emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary research at the site that has been going on for almost 90 years (for the last 40 years it has been managed by researchers from the University of Haifa) and which follows It was possible to assert the centrality of the site for the study of human development in all its aspects. And indeed, the in-depth and long-term research in the caves is one of the criteria by which the site was recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO."