Human remains have been discovered in a 100,000-year-old secret cave, which is believed to be a burial site.
Five sets of human remains have been unearthed at Tinshemet Cave in central Israel, each positioned in a foetal arrangement within deliberately dug pits.
The discovery, documented in an academic publication, represents a significant addition to existing evidence from the Middle East regarding the development of burial customs.
The bodies were discovered with their limbs drawn up in what specialists recognise as a deliberate burial posture, suggesting intentional placement rather than natural deposition.
Tinshemet Cave
|
One of the archaeologists at work in the cave
Particularly noteworthy are the artefacts discovered with the bodies, including fragments of ochre pigment and basalt stones.
Researchers found over 500 pieces of red and orange ochre, a colourant produced through heating iron-bearing rocks to specific temperatures, demonstrating early humans’ ability to manufacture decorative materials.
The basalt pebbles and animal remains accompanying the bodies had no apparent everyday function, leading experts to conclude they served ceremonial purposes.
Some of these materials originated hundreds of kilometres from the site, indicating considerable effort in their procurement for what appear to be rituals honouring the deceased.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Tinshemet Cave
|
Part of the team of archaeologists behind the discoveries
These findings suggest early humans possessed concepts of spirituality and possibly beliefs about existence after death.
“This is an amazing revolutionary innovation for our species. It’s actually the first time we are starting to use this behaviour,” stated Yossi Zaidner, archaeology professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and co-director of the excavation.
The site’s exceptional preservation resulted from ash deposits from numerous fires, probably used for ceremonies, which combined with precipitation and the region’s acidic limestone to create ideal conservation conditions.
One skeleton remained so intact that researchers could observe the intertwined fingers with hands positioned beneath the skull.
Tinshemet Cave
|
The discoveries have been made in a secret cave in Israel
The primary research results appeared in Nature Human Behaviour in March, detailing findings from excavations that commenced in 2016.
The excavation continues to progress slowly, with archaeologists employing miniature pneumatic drills and hand chisels similar to dental instruments to carefully extract findings.
During summer months, teams of undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology students meticulously record and remove each bone fragment, tool and artefact from the site.
At the cave entrance, researchers are gradually exposing an early human skull still embedded in rock sediment, a process expected to take several years to complete.
Tinshemet Cave sits within an unremarkable stone formation in Israel’s undulating central hills, yet Zaidner describes it as “one of the three or four most important sites for study of human evolution and behaviour during the Palaeolithic time”.
