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Together in the field: interdisciplinary work in Kebara and Hayonim caves (Israel)

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Abstract

The authors present an example of close field collaboration among prehistorians and researchers from different disciplines (particularly the geosciences), within the context of a long program of interdisciplinary research at the caves of Kebara and Hayonim (Israel). We outline the benefits brought about by the presence of different specialists being in the field during the excavation over long periods. Specifically, daily collaboration in the field during the excavation brings about: (1) A consensus of choice of strategic areas to excavate, either at the beginning of the project or during successive field campaigns, while taking into account the needs and goals of different specialists and their needs in taking samples; (2) A meeting of different points of view with many discussions of stratigraphy and site formation processes, which in caves are quite complex; (3) A unification of specialized vocabulary and jargon specific to each discipline by constant interaction in the field, which in turn facilitates communication among specialists; (4) A positive didactic element in training doctoral students in the field. This interdisciplinary strategy is more or less widespread now, but it was not the case in the early 1980s, and actual integration of results from the sciences (particularly the geosciences) came about only fairly recently. Without doubt, the awareness of the importance of such interdisciplinary archaeological data for discussing archaeological issues has ultimately paved the way for active interdisciplinary collaboration sprouting from the fieldwork, and has led to the generation of more robust and accurate interpretations.

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Acknowledgments

Numerous people and granting agencies were responsible for making this interdisciplinary project work and they are too numerous to mention here for simple lack of space. But there some people without whom the project could not have functioned, as for example, Mario Chech for keeping the operation running. Funding is a critical issue in carrying out projects like these where people come from all over the globe. Funding agencies include: the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; CNRS; L.S.B. Leakey Foundation; US National Science Foundation; the Irene Sala-Levi Care Archaeological Foundation; Weizmann Institute; Institute of Archaeology of Hebrew University; the American School of Prehistoric Research (Peabody Museum, Harvard University); the Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA; and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEPAM-CNRS 7264, Université de Nice, Nice, France

    Liliane Meignen

  2. Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070, Tübingen, Germany

    Paul Goldberg

  3. Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA, USA, 02215

    Paul Goldberg

  4. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Ofer Bar-Yosef

Authors
  1. Liliane Meignen
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  2. Paul Goldberg
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  3. Ofer Bar-Yosef
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Correspondence to Paul Goldberg.

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Meignen, L., Goldberg, P. & Bar-Yosef, O. Together in the field: interdisciplinary work in Kebara and Hayonim caves (Israel). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 1603–1612 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-014-0185-4

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