Archeology / Unique conditions in the Hula valley allowed researchers to reconstruct the vegetation of the area 750 thousand years ago
20/02/2002
By Tamara Traubman and Merit Selvin
In excavations at an archaeological site, on the southern bank of the Jordan in the Hula Reserve,
A variety of nuts more than 750 thousand years old were uncovered, as well as the stone tools in them
Ancient humans used to crack them. For years scientists assumed
Because the diet of the ancient humans was mostly based on manna food
the plant, but according to experts, the new findings discovered on the site are
The first evidence confirming this assumption.
At the site, which is located close to the Daughters of Ya'akov bridge, maces (hammers) were found
and stone pillars, on the surface of which there is one or more depressions. "The holes were probably created
from using tools to crack large quantities of hard-shelled nuts,"
Says Prof. Naama Goren Inbar, an archaeologist from the Hebrew University
and the lead author of the study. According to her, evidence that supports this hypothesis is
The fact that in modern hunter-gatherer societies, and even chimpanzees
Similar tools are still made today, and used to crack nuts.
Dr. Arala Hobars, an archaeologist from the Hebrew University, who did not participate
In the study, she also said that "up until now people have generally talked about it
That these people probably also fed on the plant." According to her, the multitude of evidence
that have been preserved on the site constitute "strong and convincing evidence".
According to Gonen Sharon, a doctoral student at the Hebrew University and a research partner,
Archaeologists had no doubt about the fact that early man ate meat
At that time, as much evidence has been preserved to indicate this.
In contrast, most of the evidence pointing to eating plant foods is not
have been preserved during the hundreds of thousands of years that have passed. "When excavating sites
Archaeologists from such an early period," he says, "are usually found
Stone tools, and if you're lucky, you also find animal bones." On the menu
The meat can be learned from the cutting and crushing marks in the bones that were created during the process
The slaughtering and feeding. "On the other hand," says Sharon, "a plant-based diet has no
Direct evidence, simply because the plants are not preserved."
The lands in the area of the Daughters of Ya'akov bridge were kept covered with water for years, and so
An oxygen-free protective environment was created that prevented the plants from rotting. "The preservation
The fantastic nature of the botanical material allows us to recreate the environment in which it lived
Man 750 years ago, and even reconstruct parts of his diet."
says Sharon. The findings of the study, in which Prof. Mordechai Keslo also participated
and doctoral student Yoel Melamed from the Department of Botany at Bar Ilan University,
will be published today in the scientific journal "PNAS". The researchers reconstructed the
The vegetation in the area, and from the reconstruction, the ancient Hula Valley is depicted as a fertile valley
and spectacular. According to the findings, among the types of nuts from which the ancient man was fed
There were wild almonds, nuts of the Atlantean goddess tree and the pistachio tree
and acorns of common oak and tabor oak. When the people went down to the edge of a lake
The patient could pick fruits of the thorny water lily - a leafy plant
Round with a diameter of more than a meter - and water chestnuts, two extinct plants
Meanwhile from Israel. Under the leaves of the giant water lily fish swam
and crustaceans, which humans probably also fed on at that time. in the valley
Olive trees and vines also grew. The bones discovered at the site show that in addition
For humans, elephants, rhinoceroses, deer, horses, cows lived in the area
and turtles
"We discovered evidence of a wide range of activities on the site," says Sharon,
"A variety that indicates the complexity of the ancient man's ways of life, on
His close familiarity with the environment and the utilization of its various resources in order to survive."
Photo: The Hebrew University The site of the excavations at the Bnot Ya'akov Bridge, where the nuts and crackers were discovered
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