Archaeology/neglect of a rare site
A shed in Ovadiya with 1.4 million year old remains under it, yesterday
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Photo: Itzik Ben Malki by "Haaretz" reporter, Walla News!
44 years ago, when he was cultivating land for a vegetable garden in Obadiah, near Kibbutz Beit Zera in the Jordan Valley, Izzy Marimski, a nature teacher from Kibbutz Afikim, came across ancient remains. A year later, in 1960, excavations began at the site, from which it became clear that these were human remains approximately 1.4 million years old, and therefore the site is of global importance for understanding the evolution of man. The reason: this is one of the oldest sites in the world outside the continent of Africa, where remains and traces of human activity of the ancient man were discovered, who according to the prevailing theory first left the continent about two million years ago (until about two years ago it was considered the oldest, recently remains were discovered in Georgia that may be more ancient) .
On the site you can identify the "surfaces of existence" of the ancient man who lived there. In the surfaces - which, as a result of geological activity of breaking and wrinkling, stand today at an angle of 70 degrees - more than 10,000 stone tools were found that were hewn by "Ish Ovadiya". The excavations also uncovered 60 layers of soil where tools and animal bones were found.
But today the site is deserted. Two tin sheds protect the findings from the elements; Three shacks from Timim Lipol are a reminder of the years of intensive excavations (until the end of the 80's excavations were conducted on a large scale, in recent years delegations from abroad come for excavations on a smaller scale). There is not a single sign in the place to explain its importance to travelers.
"We haven't even taken the first step on the road to conservation yet," says Yitzhaki Gal, an archaeologist from Kibbutz Afikim. "For many years we have held meetings and tours and nothing has moved. Money is not the problem. First of all, you have to recognize the importance of the place." According to him, "Even the countries of the European market that started formulating a project called 'Tamper' - which includes the preservation of four historical sites in the Mediterranean basin - decided that Ovadiya would be one of those sites. If in the big world they recognized the importance of place, why do we remain so provincial?"
Two weeks ago, another tour was held at the site, with the participation of representatives of the Nature and Parks Authority and members of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, as part of the authority's intention to declare the place a national park. In 1999, the authority submitted a plan for the preservation and development of the site. Three alternatives were proposed - from a limited development to the development of an archaeological park that would include buildings, a display of findings and an audio-visual display. In the Jordan Valley there are even those who distance themselves and imagine a "Jurassic Park" style tourist center.
But in the meantime, the excavation site is in danger of destruction. It is not fenced and no guard is placed in it. The antiquities robbers take advantage of this fact, and according to the researchers, various fossils were maliciously displaced or destroyed from the "surfaces of existence". The findings that have already been collected are at the University of Jerusalem and the Beit Gordon Museum in Degania A.
A few years ago, Prof. Eitan Chernov from the Hebrew University (who directed the excavations at the site with Prof. Ofer Bar-Yosef) compiled a document that emphasizes the importance of preserving Ovadiya: "At the time we tried to preserve with meager means some of the living surfaces (...) the preservation measures did not meet the conditions The climate, in the ravages of time and the antiquities robbers, and these outcrops have been almost completely destroyed," Chernov wrote, adding: "The remains of the most ancient man left in the entire world outside of Africa are, therefore, facing final destruction. The traces and facts of the existence and activity of such an ancient man will remain only in scientific works. There will no longer be a possibility to show, educate, teach and enjoy the historical facts that are so rare (...) and thus a complete and critical chapter of human history and culture is destroyed before our eyes."
They know evolution - the rise of man
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