Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a cave used by pre-Neanderthal human-like creatures who lived as long as 400,000 years ago, making it one of only a handful of sites from the little-known period accessible to scientists, reports BritPanorama.
Located on the outskirts of a town called Fureidis in northern Israel, the cave was due to be affected by construction work when archaeologists decided to investigate it. Researchers in the 1970s originally thought the cave was used around 200,000 years ago, according to archaeologist Kobi Vardi of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
However, Vardi and his colleague Ron Shimelmitz, an associate professor in archaeology at the University of Haifa, have now discovered that it was inhabited up to 400,000 years ago. They determined this after finding flint tools, such as hand axes, scrapers, and blades, that are characteristic of the Acheulo-Yabrudian culture of pre-Neanderthal hominins who lived in the area at the time.
Vardi expressed surprise, stating, “It was a big surprise” to find that the cave was significantly older than previously thought. The cave would have been used by members of the Acheulo-Yabrudian culture, who inhabited the Levant, or the Near East, around 400,000-250,000 years ago. The team also found bones from animals such as fallow deer and gazelle.
This suggests large groups of hominins lived together in the caves, hunting wild animals and using fire, “suggesting complex and rich camp life,” Shimelmitz said in a statement. However, to date, no significant human remains have been found in any of the caves that have been discovered from this period.
The cave in Fureidis is “a unique site of global importance,” Shimelmitz remarked. He described it as a “time capsule” belonging to a unique period at the end of the Lower Paleolithic era, just before Neanderthals and modern humans became dominant and spread across many regions. “Only a handful of sites from this important phase have been uncovered in Israel and the wider Levant, and most of them are inaccessible for research,” he added.
The team presented their findings to the construction company, leading to the construction of a road bridge that would save the cave and keep it accessible for further investigation. Vardi indicated that researchers are planning extensive studies at the site that will probably take several years. “Our big hope in the excavation of these caves is that maybe we’ll find hominin remains,” he said. “We’re very anxious to meet them.”
Transform our understanding
Armando Falcucci, a lecturer in palaeolithic archaeology at the University of Southampton, who was not involved in the study, remarked that the find adds to our understanding of a period of human history that tends to receive limited attention. “What makes this find valuable is that it pulls the spotlight back to a much earlier and equally pivotal window (roughly 400,000 to 200,000 years ago); a period of profound behavioural and technological change across both Africa and Eurasia in its own right,” he stated. He emphasized that cave deposits from this period “are extremely rare in the region.”
Falcucci pointed to the significance of evidence for intensive use of fire at this site, noting that it marks a major behavioural threshold in human evolution. Catriona Pickard, a professor of prehistory and archaeometry and head of archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, also acknowledged that the findings “provide rare insights into the material culture and lifeways of early hominins, and as such, the site has the potential to transform our understanding of the Lower Paleolithic in the Levant.”
This discovery sheds light not only on human ancestry but also on the complexities of early societal structures, suggesting a sophisticated level of interaction with their environment long before the rise of modern humans.
