Beads, etched ostriches among prehistoric remnants uncovered in northern Israel

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a 7,000-year-old village at Ein Zippori, including artwork and stone imported from modern-day Turkey

A bowl with stone beads dates to an ancient culture that flourished in modern-day Israel 7,000 years ago (photo credit: Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority/Clara Amit)

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered unique remains from a prehistoric culture in northern Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday, including an etching of two birds, possibly ostriches, and a bowl with more than 200 colored beads.

The finds were found in the ruins of a settlement dating to approximately 7,000 years ago and located at Ein Zippori, near the city of Nazareth.

The excavation turned up flint tools like sickle blades, showing that residents were farmers, and axes used to cut wood. Also found were blades made of obsidian — a type of stone not locally available, and which must have been brought from afar over ancient trade routes, according to the archaeologists in charge of the dig. The closest known source of obsidian is in modern-day Turkey.

“These objects traveled thousands of kilometers,” said Ianir Milevski, the dig’s co-director. “They tell us that either people from Zippori walked far to the north, or that a population to the north was in contact with communities here.”

The findings link the site to a civilization that existed in what is now Israel between 5500 and 4500 BCE. The civilization, known as the Wadi Rabbah culture, was named for the first site at which it was discovered northeast of Tel Aviv in the 1950s.

The extent of the newly excavated site, around 50 acres, makes it “one of the largest, if not the largest, in the country where there are remains of this culture,” according to Sunday’s statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The site had been previously known but was not excavated until the current dig got under way in 2011. It is slated to be completed by the end of 2012. The excavation, a salvage dig, is being carried out ahead of the expansion of a highway that will partially cover the settlement’s remains.

Among the finds from the Ein Zippori site is this stone tablet etched with the figures of two birds, possibly ostriches (photo credit: Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority/Clara Amit)

The beads and bird engravings are among a number of pieces of ancient artwork found at the site, including clay figurines of pigs, cattle and sheep.

If the birds are ostriches, as the archaeologists suggest, they echo similar depictions of ostriches known to archaeologists from remains in Mesopotamia around the same time.

“These objects indicate a special group in this society, perhaps an elite, that was in touch with other places and cultures,” Milevski said.

After 4500 BCE. the Wadi Rabbah culture was gradually replaced with more advanced societies characterized by their ability to work with metal, knowledge that the residents of this settlement did not possess.

The biblical Israelites are thought to have arrived here more than 3,000 years after that, in around 1200 BCE.

During their work at Ein Zippori the archaeologists also found nails and horseshoes from a much later period — that of the Crusaders, who camped out at the site before their famous defeat to Saladin’s forces at the nearby Horns of Hattin in 1187 CE.

By Matti Friedman / The Times of Israel

Actualización: Figuras de la Edad de Piedra se encuentran en Ein Zippori
Un collar de cuentas de colores en un tazón de fuente, imágenes de Avestruces talladas sobre una placa de piedra y figuras de animales – todo de la Edad de Piedra, fueron expuestos en Ein Zippori en el Norte de Israel.

Un tesoro de hallazgos prehistóricos impresionantes fue expuesto durante el curso de las excavaciones arqueológicas de la Autoridad de Antigüedades de Israel realizadas el año pasado, en nombre de la Sociedad Nacional de Caminos , antes de la ampliación de la carretera 79 . Las excavaciones abarcan una gran área que cubre una distancia de c. 800 m, en ambos lados de la carretera.

Es un Asentamiento prehistórico con restos que datan del período Neolítico Pre-Cerámico (c. 10.000 años atrás) hasta la Edad del Bronce (c. 5.000 años) se encuentran en el sitio de Ein Zippori, que se extiende al sur de Ein Zippori.

Según el Dr. Ianir Milevski y Getzov Nimrod, los directores de excavación en nombre de la Autoridad de Antigüedades de Israel, “La excavación reveló restos de un asentamiento extensivo a partir del final del período Neolítico y principios del Calcolítico en el país de cultura “Wadi Rabah”. Esta cultura es el nombre del sitio donde fue descubierto por primera vez (en la región de Rosh Ha-Ayin), y es común en Israel desde el final del sexto milenio y principios del quinto milenio antes de Cristo”.

De acuerdo con los arqueólogos, “La presencia de restos de la cultura Wadi Rabah en la mayoría de nuestras áreas de excavación y en las encuestas que se realizaron en otro lugar en el sitio, muestra que Ein Zippori es un sitio enorme que se extendía 200 dunams. Resulta que este sitio antigüedades es uno de los más grandes, si no el más grande, en el país donde se encuentran los restos de esta cultura. La arquitectura es rectangular y los suelos eran de tiza triturada o piedras muy pequeñas. Los cimientos eran de piedra y las paredes por encima de ellos fueron construidas con ladrillos de barro”.