Bridget Alex, a PhD student at Harvard who is on a Fulbright scholarship in the laboratory of Dr. Elisabetta Burato, in a unique laboratory of its kind at the Weizmann Institute that combines physics and archeology and assists in the dating of soil samples, biological remains and objects in archaeological sites that are tens of thousands of years old
The place where the State of Israel is today has always been a crossing point from Africa to Europe, and there have always been residents who were threatened by invaders from both directions. One of the first intercultural encounters that took place here was the encounter between Neanderthal man who came from Europe during ice ages, and Homo sapiens who came from Africa, an encounter that left about 2% Neanderthal genes in all human groups except those who never left Africa.
This is how Brigitte Alex describes, a doctoral student researching the fields of archeology and human evolution at Harvard University, who is staying in Israel this year as part of the American Fulbright program for exchange of lecturers and students. Fulbright is the first government program launched to promote scientific ties between Israel and the US. Israel's participation in this program is managed by the USA-Israel Education Foundation (www.fulbright.org.il). Brigitte is staying at the Weizmann Institute in the D-REAMS laboratory and is conducting her research under the leadership of Dr. Elisabetta Burato.
"I come here for five years in the summer to dig, I also participate in excavations in Serbia and Poland and ask the same questions and research the same period to examine if Neanderthals and modern humans met in these areas and how their interaction was different. And she is indeed different. In Europe, in the places where Alex excavated, it seems that the encounters were short and ended with the pushing and finally the extinction of the Neanderthals. Only in the Land of Israel and its surroundings, according to the evidence, it seems that groups of Neanderthals and humans lived at the same time for thousands of years.
The D-REAMS lab is an old lab but last year the lab got a new mass spectrometer (AMS). This is an expensive and difficult device to operate, but it allows archaeologists to carry out the carbon dating independently without transferring the samples to an external laboratory. What is unique and impressive about the lab is that we do everything from start to finish. From digging samples in the ground through the entire testing process to the final result. There are very few places like this in the world. In most laboratories, the archaeologists dig, take out tools or animal bones and send them to a laboratory of our type that will do the analyzes and measurements, but in this process a lot of data is lost.
The specialization mix of the laboratory staff is also unique. Dr. Elisabetta Burato, a physicist by training. Since receiving her doctorate at the Weizmann Institute in 1994, she has been working at this seam between archeology and physics and operates the laboratory. It is difficult to find people who want or can handle both disciplines. Chemists and physicists mostly don't like digging in the mud and many archaeologists are afraid of laboratory work, so it's exciting to be in a place where everything is done and of course it makes it possible to do better research and get better results.
"The period that I, following my mentor, Burato, am investigating is the period from 50 thousand years ago to 30 thousand years ago - the time when the Neanderthals became extinct and modern humans left Africa and managed to spread throughout the world. Since this period of overlap lasted in the Middle East for thousands of years, we are intrigued to find sites where the two groups met, how they communicated with each other, in what they were similar and in what they were different. Compared to Europe, where apparently the meetings were random and rare, fossils were found here."
Israel has always been the border between the Neanderthal humans who spread here from Europe, and the modern humans who came from Africa. According to the fossils we know that 100 thousand years ago modern humans were already found in Israel. For an unknown reason they disappeared, and a few tens of thousands of years later - 50-70 thousand years ago the Neanderthals appeared and then they disappeared and modern humans appeared again. Part of the reason for the gaps in our knowledge about the sojourn of humans from each culture here lies in the fact that during the overlapping period only a few dozen fossils were found in the whole world, but some important fossils discovered in Israel confirm that both types of humans lived at the same time."
Alex also says that large parts of the puzzle were solved thanks to the deciphering of the Neinadertal genome about five years ago: "Genetics also indicates a connection between the groups, every person alive today, Chinese, French, American-born - with the exception of groups that never left Africa such as the Yoruba and San San) who live south of the Sahara, contain about 2% genes originating from the Neanderthal man. The pattern is that several groups of modern humans came out of Africa, interbred with the Neanderthals who were here, and spread to the rest of the world so they all have about an equal amount of genes. If until the decoding of the genome, there was a debate among scientists regarding the question of whether Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred, today most of them are convinced of this and they are focusing attention on the places where the groups met.
where are you digging
"I work in a number of places throughout the country, for example in Menot Cave, not far from the Lebanese border, and at the open site Boker Ha'ta (near Sde Boker) at both sites I assist Omari Barzilai, head of the prehistory department at the Antiquities Authority. The laboratory also deals with the analysis of findings from other sites. Among other things, we return to sites that have been studied for over 100 years where stone tools and objects from that period were identified, but they were not dated accurately enough and usually the dating was based on the style, so we check them again so that we can examine the objects and stone tools with modern tools.
Boker Neta, where the entire laboratory is engaged in examining the findings, is one of the most famous sites in the world and most likely the findings discovered there date back to that period. The site was first excavated in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs and according to most researchers, groups of people who left Africa lived there.
"An interesting detail is that this area was not a desert like it is today, ancient plant researchers found there remains of ash and juniper, which grow in areas less desert than this area today. It should be remembered that in Europe there were repeated ice ages, while in Israel the climate was more stable. The effect of climate is evident. When it was hard in Europe, the Neanderthals came down here, and when it was dry in Africa, humans came here from the south. It turns out that the conflict over this land also took place 50 years ago."
"Perhaps the turning of the site into a desert, and perhaps other conditions caused the preservation of one of the most important finds which seems like a moment in time freezing. We discovered blades and spearheads created by a group of several people who struck the rock near a stream of water which was then of course a steady stream and is now a wadi. We simply found all the pieces of stone left over from the preparation process and assembled the original flint stone - a three-dimensional puzzle of about a hundred pieces. This way we can know what happened here one afternoon 40-50 thousand years ago without the materials being lost or mixed."
In Manot Cave - we discovered new and exciting finds - of objects left by modern humans who lived there tens of thousands of years ago, we have clues that say that if we continue to dig we will reach earlier layers of Neanderthals. From part of the skull and leg bones and some other bones we learn that there was more than one person there. Finding human fossils from the period in question is rare because they were not preserved well enough. It is possible that they had burial methods that did not leave remains, such as burning or burying in the sea, which is why we do not have skeletons from certain periods, but nevertheless they lived there and left behind a lot of garbage: bones of animals they ate, remains of bonfires, stone and bone tools they built.
"The oldest remains we excavated were of humans from 45-50 thousand years ago, as mentioned the period I am interested in, however ten thousand years later a completely different culture inhabits the place - the Levantine Aurignacian culture. It seems that this was a group of modern humans who came out of Africa, migrated to Europe, and came back, so they had a European culture and style. Some of the objects they made look identical to those found in southern France at that time, it's amazing how despite the distance they used the same bone tools, objects Shells, symbolic objects, although this is already after the period in which we are interested in it, but it proves how the history of the groups in the area is complex and included many waves of migration. Any attempt to differentiate between the groups becomes very challenging. This is the reason why we need a good dating to determine when the groups were here and what the nature of the connections between them was."
According to Alex, in Israel there is public interest, support and people who understand archaeology, and finds from all periods from the oldest archeology to the modern era can be found here. "Another reason why I keep coming here is that we have good excavations and a good laboratory and a good connection between them. When we go from the Weizmann Institute to the excavation, we bring advanced technology with us to the site. In excavations where researchers from the Weizmann Institute work, you will see a table with chemistry equipment and begin the analysis work while digging and the immediate findings guide us where to dig, how many samples to bring from there and more. This is a very innovative approach."
Another reason why this is interesting is that compared to what I saw in Serbia and Poland, where it seems that if humans and Neanderthals met, the encounter was quick: the Neanderthals were there, there were few modern humans, and then the Neanderthals disappeared - became extinct or went to other areas and were replaced by modern humans. In the Middle East, it seems that the two groups have lived here together for a long enough period to communicate with each other and exchange cultures or compete with each other, so it is interesting to work here."
No conclusions yet, says Alex. "The findings need to be analyzed and published in the scientific press. In the meantime, she enjoys the atmosphere in Israel and compliments Dr. Elisabetta Burato, who is also a member of the committee that approves her work for the doctorate. "She brings here many researchers from all over the world and interests them in working in Israel. An extraordinary type, in an extraordinary laboratory.”
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http://www.west-eastern-divan.org/
For those who want to see what high levels Israelis and Arabs can reach together. On YOUTUBE, this orchestra is very dominant. And yet the two nations do not recognize each other's right to exist next to each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Said
shows that Palestinians also reach the highest level in the world. Also by the way in science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book)
The moderation in which he recognized the need for coexistence but does not necessarily align with his utopia for the Palestinian people in which, in my opinion, there is no place for the State of Israel (if it recognizes return).
The new historians
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%94%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D
Former Israelis who do not recognize the existence of the State of Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book)
A leading book - a breakthrough. Again the same claims for deprivation and less about doing for improvement.
Lenisim, you're right - I missed your last word, it was late here and I was engrossed in something else. Sorry.
Yossi - every word in the rock (the third comment), somehow I didn't see your comments and point. My problem with your previous comments is that you disagree but along the way understand the disgust ("but behind her...") - this gives the darkness a certain and dangerous legitimacy, in my opinion.
To the point, I just now saw your subcomment for some reason. In any case, if you read what I wrote to you, maybe you would understand, read it again - somehow it appears three times - maybe it will help.
You remind me of all these Israelis who glorify Israeli openness and doggedness and in the name of this allow themselves to behave like animals.
The fact that someone recognizes everyone's need for the bathroom once or twice a day does not give them the right to do it in the middle of the street. The same with racism, once it probably saved the groups that survived - today, whoever does not take care of it himself without polluting the environment and washing words, is not only a bad person and a racist is also an idiot who does not understand that he is hurting the group he lives in in the long run.
In conclusion - keep your disgust and evil to yourself and your relatives, do not pollute the public space with it - it does not add respect to you and gives a kind of legitimacy to more disgust to come out.
point
Are you stupid because you are bad - or are you bad because you are stupid?
Why does anyone who thinks differently than you have to die from one of the horrible diseases that exist?
I do not
point
you are a bad person You don't deserve to be a parent.
Nitzan I proved to you that if you are one who loves your children then you are a racist (and if not then you are crazy).
You chose to ignore this clear evidence, which means you are both racist and ignorant.
Nitzan
Do you even read what I write? Maybe you will also introduce listening to the world of your values?
A proposal for a model, meeting between populations. The American model, rapid encounter, which included the rapid death of the original inhabitants due to susceptibility to new diseases, or the model of gradual conquest, as in the case of Siberia.
Point is he/she is a Jewish racist, and probably you too.
Racists are extremists - this is my world of values - no matter what religion.
For some reason, the public discourse (and the establishment, sometimes) in Israel gives up on racism and lets it rear its head. Too bad.
Nitzan
Point is a Jewish extremist? What about Jewish extremists and what is happening in Europe? Isn't it enough that they exterminate Israel??
You concede the point
Nitzan
Where did you see that I give in to Jewish extremists?
Hi Nitzan. There is a difference between enlightened racism and dark racism.
After all, it is a fact that all humans are racist, by nature. Those who do not know this suffer from a dissociative mental disorder which is usually the result of ignorance and stupidity on the one hand and a desire to be seen as an enlightened and wise person on the other.
The simplest and most obvious example is that every parent loves their child more than someone else's child, and it is clear that their child is the closest thing to the concept of race that exists. That is, humans are racist by nature.
Enlightenment does not mean mixing and erasing cultures, and certainly not when it happens for dark economic capitalist reasons. And that's what I'm going against.
Miracles.
We both probably agree that extremism is bad (no matter where - economics, science, religion, etc.).
But for some reason it seems to me that you are giving in a little to the Jewish extremists. Hypocrisy? There is no chance - these are not miracles I know ;).
Apparently I'm not good at hints, so I'll be more direct - you still haven't explicitly contradicted your initial support for the disgust of a point, it seems as if you're constantly being lazy and going around talking about extremists, religious, etc.
For me (not that it matters to anyone) it doesn't add you points; I only hope that the majority of Israelis do as well - regardless of political opinion for that matter.
Friends, let's stop the bickering. We are all brothers in the belief in the correctness of science, and we are all Jews in the sense that we were not distinguished between us at any time.
Some of us are right-wing (Nisim), some of us are left-wing (Nitzan) and some of us in a conscious and not confused dichotomy (Yossi) want to be enlightened leftists, but believe that they have a right to exist and for this are willing to be stronger and less equal to others. We are all brothers despite our big differences of opinion. Surely there is something in common. Do the three of us believe in the correctness of science, in the correctness of the Big Bang, in the correctness of the theory of evolution, in equality between people on a daily level, in the importance of preserving these values. Not as deities but as values to be preserved.
Nitzan
Who are you?
I emphasize the Muslims because they are the biggest problem today. In the not too distant past it was radical Christians.
Extreme Judaism is also a problem, but a different problem...
Miracles,
It seems that you continue the impiety. I guess it's not for nothing that in your initial response you mentioned the Muslims explicitly and further advocating an explicitly racist and condescending response.
Correct me if I'm wrong (quite common...), because from your responses it seems that you are siding with the darkness of a point (which Lau was talking about extremists).
Nitzan
Who is talking about racism? When a group of people comes and tries hard to contain their culture on a new land - the result cannot be good. I have no problem with anyone living anywhere in the world, but don't be surprised if they hate him when he brings with him a culture that goes against the values of the place he came to.
Do you think what I said before is not true?? Give me one case where an extremist religious group did something good in a new place.
Lenisim and Yossi, I will not enter into a discussion about the decisive facts you bring (and more on a scientific website...) because that is not what is important here.
The problem I see is precisely the winking (Yossi) and the sarcastic rants (Nisim) that legitimize more blatant reactions that are racist in their own right.
I don't quite understand the hypocrisy of a Jew who reads/hears/experiences anti-Semitism in France, Ukraine, Greece and more; And immediately afterwards does the same anti-Semitic act to a foreign worker, an Arab citizen or even an Ethiopian.
Nitzan
Religious extremists, especially Muslims, have been responsible for the destruction of civilizations since time immemorial. What is wrong here??
What I wanted to say is that the inappropriate reaction of a point is inflammatory and racist, but behind it is hidden an opinion about the development of the future that is not necessarily wrong, although it is embarrassing to say out loud. Another person is not consciously racist, and an enlightened person may come to the same conclusion even though he is in favor of coexistence and in favor of tolerance.
Please see the Edward Said Wikipedia entry. Professor of English literature (deceased 2004) at Columbia University, moderate (was close to the wizard). Please search Google for the entry The New Historians and these are Israeli academics who not only call for a complete boycott of Israel, which is still reasonable for some of us, but for the abolition of the State of Israel and believe that the Balfour Declaration was the most serious concept of the British Foreign Office and not the Munich Agreement.
Edward Said founded together with Bernbaum the excellent orchestra that combines Jews and Arabs. Also in the entry ORIENTALISM which refers to his best known book. If he had been an Israeli intellectual, he would have represented us with his manners and wisdom with respect. The man inspires respect for Palestinians who are no less wise than us.
his opinions. There is a claim that the West took advantage of Islam and more precisely the Middle East (true but they have been independent for 65 years).
The man recognized the need for coexistence but it is not clear if two states for two peoples. Recognized the right of full return, and Israel is not the nation state of the Jewish people. During the Second Lebanon War and Operation Pillar of Defense, the Arab part of the orchestra simply stopped talking to Israelis who had enlisted in the reserves and refused to play with them, and there was a danger of disbanding. In other words, the egalitarian coexistence model that is important to have - did not work that well.
Birnbaum's intervention kept the two sides together. The orchestra is excellent. And it is a shame that two peoples can reach such high levels together and do not recognize each other's right to exist as a people.
Nitzan, you are right in your view that it is racism and the Palestinians as individuals are people like us, and there are also intellectuals among them (Edward Said, Hanan Ashrawi). Also that we are becoming more right-wing in our views to the point of unwillingness for peace on both sides.
But also true in my opinion (with a reservation) is the fact that there is a clash of cultures. What I think will happen in the end is one of two things:
Or that Europe, under Muslim pressure, will be extreme right-wing and they will go something like the Crusaders: that is, they will deport foreigners, including Jews.
Or that Europe will fall into the hands of the Islamic culture and we will enter the Middle Ages in which the exit from them will be of Muslims from Islam and that is too far to predict. This is in my opinion despite the fact that the West is dozens of times more advanced than Islam in technology, and militarily Western weapons destroy somewhat more outdated weapons with ease and mass. But there is a thin layer of academia in relation to the Arab world, but very dominant in academies in the West and I see it. But the old methods of terror and guerrilla warfare and mass residential invasion without cultural assimilation will prevail.
Rome was destroyed when barbarians entered the empire without cultural Romanization. Before that, the Roman generals resorted to brutal methods of Romanization and succeeded: Spain, Gaul, Egypt and many others were Roman colonies. Rebellions were brutally suppressed and peoples were exiled. When it started with the Emperor Commodus - the war was stopped for a decision in Germany and the Germans were allowed to settle in the empire as independent nations, the empire was destroyed.
If we take the most moderate intellectuals in Islam, we can check that they do not recognize Israel's right to exist. They claim that the West is depriving the Arabs. There is no talk of building and doing.
You should start researching how people are no longer ashamed of being dark.
We all have a racist thought sometimes, for some reason too many "enlightened Jews" recently have lost their shame and instead of sitting down and thinking how to deal with the thought (not in this place - for the avoidance of doubt) they vomit it into the public space.
Point, your post says a lot more about you than the Muslims and foreign workers.
And one more thing, if you ever brag about your Jewish genius - it's not you!!!! It doesn't matter how much you lie to yourself, it's just someone else who got lucky and whatever, he shares the same religion (or grandfather) with you.
Is there censorship on comments?
You should start researching how people are no longer ashamed of being dark.
We all have a racist thought sometimes, for some reason too many "enlightened Jews" recently have lost their shame and instead of sitting down and thinking how to deal with the thought (not in this place - for the avoidance of doubt) they vomit it into the public space.
Point, your post says a lot more about you than the Muslims and foreign workers.
And one more thing, if you ever brag about your Jewish genius - it's not you!!!! It doesn't matter how much you lie to yourself, it's just someone else who got lucky and whatever, he shares the same religion (or grandfather) with you.
You should start researching how people are no longer ashamed of being dark.
We all have a racist thought sometimes, for some reason too many "enlightened Jews" recently have lost their shame and instead of sitting down and thinking how to deal with the thought (not in this place - for the avoidance of doubt) they vomit it into the public space.
Point, your post says a lot more about you than the Muslims and foreign workers.
And one more thing, if you ever brag about your Jewish genius - it's not you!!!! It doesn't matter how much you lie to yourself, it's just someone else who got lucky and whatever, he shares the same religion (or grandfather) with you.
You should start researching how the Muslims and the foreign workers are exterminating the Europeans