The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO voted Friday to list the Nahal Me´arot Nature Reserve as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Site of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel in northern Israel consists of a group of prehistoric caves where early man lived continuously for hundreds of thousands of years.

Nahal Me´arot joins seven other World Heritage sites that are located in Israel. The other sites are: the Old City of Jerusalem; the Bahá´i Holy Places in Haifa and the Western Galilee; Biblical Tells – Megiddo, Hazor and Beer Sheva; the Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev; Masada; the Old City of Acre (Akko); and the White City area of Tel-Aviv.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked alongside the Hof HaCarmel regional council and in partnership with the University of Haifa to have the site listed by the World Heritage Committee. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 07/02/12)