At the prehistoric Nahal Ein Gev site in northern Israel, researchers from the Hebrew University have uncovered evidence that man stored various materials, including food, in an elaborate facility established 12 years ago. According to the researchers, the facility testifies to the advance of the hoarding phenomenon known to us by about a thousand years. The study was published in the prestigious journal"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications"
First evidence of hoarding and storage in a dedicated facility in human history: In an attempt to understand the transition processes from hunting and gathering to agriculture in the prehistoric era, many researchers tried to find archaeological evidence for the development of the first storage mechanisms in human culture. This happened when society produces more at a given moment than it consumes, and then there is an inequality between human consumption and the amount of food sources available. This phenomenon continues to this day and even reaches new heights every year (for example, recently it was known that in Tokyo Huge underground food storage facilities which will help the local population in the future due to global warming and the huge number of floods in the country).
Prof. Lior Grossman, member of the prehistoric archeology section and head of the Computational Archeology Laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, together with a team of researchers from the Institute of Archeology and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the university, recently managed to find remains of a facility from about 12,000 years ago that was uncovered In a large pit at the prehistoric site Nahal Ein Gav II, from the late Natufian culture. The hoarding facility that was found testifies to the advance of the hoarding phenomenon known to us by about a thousand years. The pit that was discovered is about 50 cm deep and 80 cm in diameter, its shape is the shape of a round dome, and it is plastered with several layers of plaster made from a mixture of soil and lime plaster. The curved walls of the facility, and the pieces of plaster found inside the facility indicate that it was probably covered and its ceiling collapsed. The innovative technology for whitewashing the pit walls was described in detail in Prof. Grossman's previous research work, which was published at the end of last year. The discovery of the pit, hypotheses about its nature and thoughts about its production method were recently published in the journal "Humanities and Social Sciences Communications" from the prestigious nature company.
Nahal Ein Gev II is the site of the end of the late Natufian culture, from a period of 12,000 years before our time. The site is a large village sitting on the north bank of the Ein Gev stream, about a kilometer from the Sea of Galilee. It was discovered in the 70s and re-excavated since 2010 by Prof. Grossman and her team, in collaboration with researchers from around the world. The uniqueness of the site is in the nature of what is found in it, which contains distinct Natopian signs (for example, flint tools), but also findings similar to the early cultures of the Neolithic (for example, art objects), thus allowing for an in-depth examination of questions regarding the transition from a hunter-gatherer life to a rural lifestyle, from the end of the period Paleolithic to the beginning of the Neolithic. Excavations at the site until the pit was discovered revealed eight buildings and even a cemetery complex. The pit that was discovered and the method of its construction are considered unusual. In fact, a facility like it has not yet been uncovered at other sites from the same period, but in later periods similar facilities became more and more common, and were used to store grains and legumes. Furthermore, the presence of a storage facility before the appearance of agriculture testifies to the gradualness and complexity of one of the most significant processes in human history.
In the article, the initial hypothesis arose following the discovery of similar facilities in later periods in Israel, that the facility found might have been used as a cooking facility or as a furnace. Therefore, the researchers had to make sure that they did find a facility aimed at hoarding and storage. Analysis of microscopic findings from the pit and the plaster, using geoarchaeological methods conducted by the researchers Tamna Raz from the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University and Dr. David Prizm from the University of Haifa who participated in the research, testified that no heating was done inside the facility, and no signs of burning were found on the clay (above 500 degrees Celsius), and therefore they did not cook with it or use it for burning.
"A combination of the similarity of the found facility to later storage facilities and the lack of signs of other activity suggest its use as a food storage facility," explains Prof. Grossman and adds that "if it is indeed a storage facility, it marks an early appearance of food storage activity, before the appearance of agriculture as is known us today The discovery of a facility that was likely used for storage during this period strengthens the claim that the beginning of agriculture was a gradual and increasing process of growing food in small quantities and storing surpluses over time. In this case, we had the good fortune to put our finger on an early stage in the process of cultural and technological change, as part of the transition from a life of hunting and gathering to an agricultural life."
A facility for storing grains and legumes
Despite the hypotheses raised in the study, the researchers were unable to provide unequivocal evidence regarding the initial function of the found facility, and specifically that it was a food storage facility. Similar facilities that were established in later periods show that the facility in Nahal Ein Gav was probably established to store grains and legumes. "Based on the structural characteristics of the pit that was found, we suggest that it was probably used as a storage facility for either wild plants or other materials," the researchers stated in their article. Moreover, the researchers concluded that after the initial use of the facility, it was probably converted into a huge garbage can, because various materials such as remains of bones, remains of a fire and local waste were found in it. In addition, it is possible that the facility was left abandoned and local sediments were allowed to fill it until it was completely covered. It is even possible that its walls collapsed on top of the materials that accumulated in it and sealed it.
Not for nothing is the scientific article called "Tomorrow's mundane is today's extraordinary". According to the researchers, this is the first testimony, or at least among the first, of a new behavior that was considered bizarre, unusual and unusual among a host of human behaviors that gradually developed at that time, in this case the ability to store food. According to the evidence from other sites, it can be determined that this is a phenomenon that over time has become a national phenomenon and is not unusual.
In conclusion, about a year ago, news was published that evidence was found in a magic cave near Rosh Ha'Ain that man had stored food for a long time already 400 thousand years ago. Did man learn to store so long ago? "It makes sense that throughout human history man has stored food at various levels, including animal parts, but it is not a matter of building a dedicated facility with modern technology - mud plaster and lime plaster - which requires sophisticated technology of heating limestone to a temperature of over 800 degrees, as was discovered on our website. In addition, the plastering in Nahal Ein Gav II probably allowed storage for a very long time", Prof. Grossman explains.
