Ubeidiya prehistoric site

Ubeidiya
Shown within Israel
LocationIsrael
RegionJordan Valley, Jordan Rift Valley
Coordinates32°41′19″N 35°33′43″E / 32.68861°N 35.56194°E / 32.68861; 35.56194
History
PeriodsPleistocene
Site notes
ArchaeologistsMoshe Stekelis, Georg Haas (paleontologist), Ofer Bar-Yosef, Naama Goren-Inbar; geologists Leo Picard and Nachman Shulman
Public accessYes

Ubeidiya (Levantine Arabic: العبيدية, romanized: ʿUbeydiyye; Hebrew: עובידיה, romanized: Uvediya), some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee, in the Jordan Rift Valley, Israel, is an archaeological site of the early Pleistocene, c.1.5 million years ago, preserving traces of one of the earliest migrations of Homo erectus out of Africa, with (as of 2014) only the site of Dmanisi in Georgia being older. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type, but very few human remains. The animal remains include a hippopotamus' femur bone, and an immensely large pair of horns belonging to a species of extinct bovid.

The site was discovered in 1959 and was first excavated between 1960 and 1974.

The site is distinct from nearby Tell Ubeidiya.