By, Daniel K. Eidenbud, 7/25/17,
The Jerusalem Post
A doctoral candidate made an
unprecedented discovery during excavations in the Hula Valley.
A Hebrew University of Jerusalem
doctoral candidate made an unprecedented discovery during excavations in the
Hula Valley, proving humans hunted freshwater turtles in Israel 60,000 years
ago.
The findings, published in the
Journal of Archeological Science: Reports, were made by Rebecca Biton following
years of excavations and analysis of the turtle remains from the Middle
Paleolithic site, adjacent to the paleo-Lake Hula and swamps, located in the
northern Jordan Valley.
Biton, who made international
headlines three years ago after discovering the remains of an extinct frog
species in the country, studies at the university’s Institute of Archeology.
She’s including the recent
analysis as a chapter in her dissertation, which she is submitting next week.
According to the young researcher,
the earliest evidence known of humans exploiting freshwater turtles for
sustenance dated 1 million years ago in Africa, making her discovery a quantum
leap in her field of study.
“I’m studying amphibians and
reptiles from the Hula Valley and looking at various sites, the oldest of which
is from 800,000 years ago,” Biton said on Tuesday. “I was looking at the bones
of the amphibians and reptiles to understand which species were in the Hula
Valley 60,000 years ago, and if the humans back then exploited them somehow.”
Biton noted that there are two
known species of turtles indigenous to the area: the Mediterranean spur-thighed
tortoise, which lives on land; and the Western Caspian turtle (freshwater
turtle), which inhabits water.
However, while it’s
well-documented that tortoises were consumed by humans in Israel, there was
never evidence until Biton discovered more than 300 bones from both species
during digs at the site every summer between 2008 and 2014
“In Israel, at every
archeological site you will find some evidence of the exploitation of
tortoises, which do not have much meat, but were consumed,” she said, adding
that deer, gazelle and cows were also well-known food staples during the Middle
Paleolithic Period.
“This is the first time that we
found any clear evidence in Israel that freshwater turtles were also exploited
for food,” Biton said.
Among the bones unearthed in the
three-to-four-meter digs near the water, Biton said 60 were identified as
freshwater turtle remains.
“This is important because it
shows that humans not only exploited animals on land, like the tortoise; but
also from the Hula Lake and swamps,” she said. “They not only hunted on land,
but also in the water before learning to fish.
Biton said the remains illustrate
that humans shattered the turtles’ shell and carefully removed the meat using a
flint knife.
“They took the turtle and smashed
the shell and cooked whatever meat they could extract,” she said.
Biton’s adviser, Dr. Rivka
Rabinovich, curator and manager of HU’s paleontology collection, praised the
PhD candidate, whose dissertation is titled: “An Archeo-zoological Study of
Amphibians and Reptiles from Pleistocene Archeological Sites in the Hula
Valley.”
“Rebecca also made an important
discovery that made a lot of noise three years ago when she identified the
bones of the extinct Lagonia frog in the Hula Valley,” said Rabinovich.
“She is going to be a great
researcher,” added Rabinovich. “I believe in her.”
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