Workers building a sewage line in Galilee have discovered a huge stalactite cave full of pre-historic tools and animal bones.
According to Dr. Ofer Marder, head of the Prehistory Branch of the Israel Antiquities Authority who examined the cave, “It seems that during the past 40-50 years no cave has been found with such a wealth of prehistoric finds and certainly not inside such a lovely stalactite cave. The cave includes a number of chambers, of which the main chamber measures c. 60 x 80 meters. Inside it is a soil accumulation that contains numerous flint tools that were knapped by man and a variety of zoological remains of animals that are no longer present in our country’s landscape such as the red deer, fallow deer, buffalo and even the remains of bears”.
Preliminary investigations date the cave occupation to 40,000-20,000 years ago, but it might have been occupied even earlier than that.
I wonder what kind of buffaloes they were. Were they water buffaloes or woolly ones or some gigantic aurochs type beastie? Either way, cute!
Oh great. I was hoping you’d publish this find. Very exciting. I wonder if and when we will ever see the cave. They probably mean water buffalo, jamoosim; that’s what we have here now, still.
And I was hoping you’d comment. 😀 I couldn’t find any pictures of the flint tools or the bones so I almost didn’t post it. You know I love the money shot.
I suspect that cave will remain closed for a long, long time. If you get in there by volunteering for the dig, can I bribe you to take some good pics?
Wow, glad these guys weren’t caught knapping. :giggle: No, I don’t think they have published any pics of the finds yet.
Archaeologist bosses frown on picture-taking by their diggers. On one dig I was allowed to take fun photos but had to promise not to post them.
Probably one would need big “protektsia” to get in on this cave exploration, so don’t hold your breath, Livius.
Hopefully this week I’ll post a pic of a stalactite that was saved before quarry workers could keep blasting after they fell upon a cave in the desert. grrr
Caught knapping… Boo! Hiss! For Shame, Dina. :facepalm:
I found another article with some pictures of the cave formations, but I that’s it. At least we know this find wasn’t left to blasting quarry workers. I can’t believe they did that!
I was wondering what the heck Galileo said about buffaloes.
Actual story also interesting, though.
“Damn, these fuckers make delicious cheese.”