by Shoham, Israel (AP) archaeologist believe that they have found one of the oldest graves in the world in a cave in Israel, where the well-preserved remains of former people who end around 100,000 years were carefully arranged in pits.
The results in the Tinshemet Cave in Central -Israel, which were published in an academic diary at the beginning of this year, build on earlier discoveries in northern Israel and contribute to a growing understanding of the origins of human burial.
Of particular interest to archaeologists are objects in addition to the remains used in ceremonies to honor the dead and could throw light on how our old ancestors think about spirituality and life after death.
“This is an amazing revolutionary innovation for our species,” said Yossi Zaidner, one of the directors of the Tinshemet excavation and professor of archeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “It is actually the first time that we use this behavior.”
According to various technologies, archaeologists who have been working at Tinshemet since 2016 have discovered the remains of five early people who end around 110,000 to 100,000 years ago.
The skeletons were discovered in pits and carefully arranged in a fetal position, which is known as a grave position, said Zaidner. Many were found with objects such as basalt pebbles, animal remains or ocher fragments, a reddish pigment made of iron -rich stones.
These objects, some of which are hundreds of kilometers (miles), had no known practical use for daily life, so experts believe that they were part of rituals to honor the dead.
A bridge between the peoples
The Tinshemet cave is a dark slash in the rolling hills of central -Israel full of squeaky fruit slides. Inside and around the cave there is an inconspicuous stone hill, which Zaidner calls “one of the three or four most important places for examining human evolution and behavior during the paleolithic period”.
The Paleolithic era, also known as a Stone Age due to the beginning of stone tools, lasted 3.3 million years ago until around 10,000 years ago. The Tinshemet cave comes from the middle Paleolithic era, about 250,000 and 30,000 years.
Some of the core results of the Tinshemet researchers were published in Nature Human Behavior in March. An important discovery was the remains of five early people, including two full skeletons and three isolated skulls with other bones and teeth. Remarkable fragments of red and orange ocher, a pigment that was generated by heating iron stones to a certain temperature, was also remarkable that early people had the means to create decorative objects.
“Here we see a really complex series of behaviors that are not only related to food and survival,” said Zaidner.
Archaeologists will need for many years with handboys and delicate pneumatic, pneumatic, pneumatic drills in pencil size to dig up the location. The field work started in 2016 is usually carried out in the summer months. This year, a dozen archeology students and doctoral students have set up the location and carefully documented and removed every tool, object or bone.
At the entrance to the cave, the skull of one of the early people slowly appears from the rock sediment. It will take years for it to be excavated completely.
Tinshemet is exceptionally important for archaeologists, since the local climate has kept the bones, tools and ornaments in good condition, in contrast to many other parts of the world in which these objects were lost at the time, said Christian Tryon, professor at the University of Connecticut and a research employee in the Human Original Smithsonian Institution, which was not involved in the study was.
The skeletons and objects were so well preserved due to ashes from frequent fires, probably for rituals. This large amount of ashes, mixed with precipitation and Israeli limestone, which creates optimal conditions for persistence. A skeleton was in such good condition, archaeologists could see how the fingers were interwoven, their hands were clung under the head.
A window in a little known period
Tryon said that the Tinshemet findings strengthen earlier discoveries from two similar graves in the same period in northern Israel -Skhul Cave and Qafzeh Cave. The Skhul cave was excavated almost 100 years ago, and Qafzeh cave about 50 years ago when archaeological practices were random.
“There were so many uncertainties with these websites, but this confirms that it is a pattern that we know and they really nail the data,” said Tryon.
Tinshemet has helped archaeologists to come to the conclusion that the funeral practices were spread further during this time, which was a change in the treatment of early people who treated their dead.
Some archaeologists believe that deliberate burials have started earlier. In South Africa, the Homo Naledi species – an old cousin from Homo Sapiens – deliberately placed its dead in caves 200,000 years ago. However, many archaeologists said the results were controversial and there is not enough evidence to support the claim of deliberate burials.
A bridge between the peoples
In antiquity, Israel was a bridge between Neanderthals from Europe and Homo Sapiens from Africa. Archaeologists used to identify other subgroups in the region and believe that the groups have interacted and possibly have involved.
Experts have examined the two complete skeletons for years, but it is still unclear whether it is Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens, a hybrid population or another group.
The mixture of subgroups created opportunities for different groups of early people to exchange knowledge or to express identity, said Zaidner. Around this time, archaeologists see examples of early jewelry or body painting that could be how early people started to a certain group and attract boundaries between “us” and “they”, he said.
Israel Hershkovitz, a physical anthropologist at Tel Aviv University and co-director of the Tinshemet location, said that the concept of cemeteries in prehistoric life is important because it symbolizes “a kind of territory”.
He said that the same kind of claim about land in which ancestors are buried in the region is still echoes. “It is a kind of claim that you make the neighbors and say:” This is my territory, this part of the country belongs to my father and ancestor and so on. “
