Complete human skeletons may testify to the existence of different human groups in the Land of Israel 100,000 years ago and more
Fossilized bones of an ancient man are an important and valuable find in anthropological research; Complete fossilized skeletons, from the skull to the finger bones, are a rare and expensive find. The research group led by Prof. Israel Hershkowitz from the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and the Dan David Center for the Study of Human History is now revealing in the laboratory a find of even greater importance: a group of prehistoric skeletons over 100,000 years old that were buried, probably in a ritualistic and orderly manner, in a small cave on the edge of the Judean Desert. The cave was excavated by archaeologist Dr. Yossi Zeidner from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
"The Land of Israel is rich in ancient human fossils, starting from a million and a half years before our time, most of which were discovered in Carmel and the Galilee," says Prof. Hershkowitz. "The Land of Israel was a sort of 'central station' in the human migration between continents, and in particular from Africa to Asia and Europe. Every researcher of the history of man, his origin and spread in the old world should come to Israel and study the fossils that were uncovered here."
Prof. Hershkowitz's research, carried out with the support of the National Science Foundation, focuses on the last half million years - a dramatic period in human development. "We are used to talking about the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution, but just as important was the demographic-economic-social revolution in the Early Paleolithic period, approximately 400,000 years ago, during which man underwent a radical change in his lifestyle.
"We went from living in large groups to living in small groups; from life in the open to life in caves; From bulky and large hand stones to smaller and more complex tools; from occasional use of fire to intensive use; From hunting large animals to hunting medium and small animals. Art, decoration and burial also appeared. At the same time, a huge change took place in human populations. from one dominant species of man, Homo erectus (Homo erectus), we have moved to a large variety of human types. Anthropologists today count over 10 different human species throughout the Old World at that time, most of which existed at the same time. About 50,000 years ago, this great variety disappeared for an unknown reason. We remain one and only one species of man: Homo sapiens."
The surprising findings were discovered by Dr. Zeidner and Prof. Hershkowitz in the Cave of Breathing, near the city of Shoham. Initially, the researchers did not have high hopes for this cave, which is far from the areas where most of the human fossils were discovered in the Land of Israel - Carmel and the Galilee. The cave is relatively small and the archaeological layers have already warmed up, crystallized and turned into hard rock resistant to normal excavation. The researchers began the excavation in the small terrace in front of the cave. Happily, the researchers discovered that the hard rock contained a paleontological treasure: human skeletons that the rock protected well from the ravages of time, and some of them were preserved almost intact.
The hard rock required the use of special excavation methods, which are more common in the excavation and extraction of dinosaur bones that are millions of years old than in the discovery of human bones in thousands of years old caves. To carefully extract the bones from the hard rock, the researchers cut large blocks of rock that contained the skeletons and transported them to the laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. There, with the help of skilled technicians and special tools, they slowly removed the rock and exposed the human skeletons.
To date, the remains of six fossilized human skeletons have been found next to each other, some of them folded in fetal positions, along with other finds, such as food remains, which may be interpreted as offerings to the dead. The two main issues at hand are: who were buried in the cave, and is it a burial cave? The answers to these questions may revolutionize our understanding of ancient man, his way of life and his behavior.
What kind of people are we talking about: were these modern people (Homo sapiens)? Or Neanderthals or Neanderthal-like? Maybe these were hybrids between the two species? Or maybe a completely different kind of person? Where did they come from and where did they go from here?
If it turns out to be a burial site, meaning a place that people used to bury their dead in a planned way and over time, then this is a find of enormous global importance. The oldest orderly burial sites known to us are from about 6,000 years ago, from the Chalcolithic period - while the skeletons from the Cave of Nazmat are much older: over 100,000 years old! If this is indeed the case, some questions arise: it is common to assume that organized burial sites characterize agricultural societies, whose members live in fixed territories and bury their dead there. The agricultural revolution took place about 12,000 years ago, and the fossils of the Tanshem cave therefore preceded it by a long time. Is it possible that the prehistoric hunter-gatherers in Israel used the cave as a burial site? If so, this may indicate blood ties between the members of the group, territorial behavior, an abundance of food and a dense population.
"There is almost no limit to the information that can be extracted from bones," says Prof. Hershkowitz. "The bones are a kind of recording device that records the history of our lives (osteobiography). Many things that happened during our lives are coded into the bones: physical activity, traumas, nutrition, age, body structure, diseases and more. Proteins and genetic material preserved in fossilized bones also tell us not only about man's origin but also about his physical characteristics. The history recorded in the bones is more real and objective than what the people themselves can tell us, which is influenced by their point of view and their subjective memory.
"When people ask me what I do, I say I'm a biohistorian. I try to tell the history of man according to information I gather from the bones of people who lived in the period I am researching."
life itself
Prof. Israel Hershkovitz enjoys "talking" with people who lived in the past, "hearing" their fascinating life stories and "visiting" their places of residence, as well as reading and doing research around the world.
