Going Paleo
Prehistoric site in Israel offers menu for a Paleolithic diet
Animal bones discovered at a prehistoric site near Ramla, Israel, provide insight into the Middle Paleolithic diet. Photo: University of Haifa.
Archaeologists excavating at the Nesher quarry in Israel have discovered a prehistoric site containing an extraordinarily large number of animal bones. The site, located near the city of Ramla, 14 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, is believed to have been settled 170,000 years ago.
Salvage excavations led by Dr. Yossi Zaidner of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology uncovered a unique site that combined cave-living with open-air settlement. In a pit about 100 feet deep and 300 feet wide, great quantities of auroch bones (an extinct type of wild cattle) were discovered along with the bones of rhinoceros, horses, fallow deer, gazelles and land turtles.
The free eBook Life in the Ancient World guides you through craft centers in ancient Jerusalem, family structure across Israel and articles on ancient practices—from dining to makeup—across the Mediterranean world.
“The discovery was a complete surprise to us, and we’re still not certain what the site was used for—perhaps for hunting, perhaps as a meeting place. Another avenue of investigation is that the pit might have been used as a giant trap,” Zaidner told Haaretz.
This rare prehistoric site dates to the Middle Paleolithic period (from 250,000 years to about 40,000 years ago). Associated with the hunter-gatherer Mousterian culture, the site is among the oldest human settlements discovered in the Middle East.
Zaidner and his colleagues published their findings in the Journal of Human Evolution.
Read more about the prehistoric site discovered in the Nesher quarry.
Related reading in Bible History Daily:
Why Study Prehistoric Israel?
The Prehistoric Diet and the Rise of Complex Societies
Manot Cave Skull Links Modern Humans to Neanderthals
12,000-Year-Old Shaman Funeral Reflects Natufian-Period Changes
“Lay Some Flowers on My Grave”: Oldest grave flowers discovered in Israel
No Matches? No Problem. Ancient Fire-Making in Israel
The Ancient Bean Diet: Fava Beans Favored in Prehistoric Israel
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Where do you get 170,000 years? How could you possibly date it that far back unless by completely making it up, or using a false scale. I thought this was a biblical website. Get this secular garbage out of here.
You might as well said you found this on another planet because by dating this back 170,000 years you’ve dated it to an imaginary place.
TOTALLY AGREE with Bob!!!!! Stop believing in secular “science”! It is wrong and unbiblical…read Genesis 1 if you can’t believe that, how can you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, both are only possible through Father God!
I AGREE WITH BOB AND KIM! The bones are probably from the dinosaurs that Adam and Eve killed and feasted on.
Given that Genesis 1 starts with the beginnings of the universe from ‘ex nihlio’ including time itself, anything archaeology in these ancient dig sites is fair game and informative. “Navigating Genesis” by Hugh Ross meticulously demonstrates no contradiction in the findings of 170,000 year old paleontology with scripture. Thank you scholars for keeping us informed. Carry on.
Based on currant theory assertained from soil samples strata etc, I would say more like 170,025 give or take a month or so. What? well prove me wrong then. Why can’t I make silly guesses too?
I agree there should be a statement of what type of tests were done to date these bones. Some new dating tests are very good and some are not.
Hugh Ross believes that there was death before Adam sinned and that:
God created Adam about 10,000–60,000 years ago (after the Aboriginals arrived in Australia 40,000 years ago). Neandertals were not true humans but soulless hominids.
He is not a good source for either apologetics or science.
How’d they determine the date.? Radio carbon dating shows that all radio carbon is out of the organic matter after 100,000 yrs. They just make crap up to fit their evolution agenda.. Either you believe the Bible or you don’t The original Hebrew in Genesis for day means one 24 hr period.
Yep – i’m disappointed that BAR has gone lib. There was a time when BAR stood steadfast in its commitment to Biblical truth. BAR has succumbed to the hopelessness of attaining credibility with the liberal philosophers who spout the nonsense of millions and billions of years for creation. If God couldn’t do it as recorded in Genesis, He isn’t a God at all, but a myth. It’s ludicrous to say you believe in a God who is limited in ability, strength, imagination, or desire to create the world and all therein in a brief period of time. Is God a man that He should lie? Look it up, BAR, it’s a question you need to answer before you continue publishing liberal drivel that is unscientific and awash with supposition dressed to look like “science” .