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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 649

Neolithic period

Remains of a large Neolithic settlement on alluvial soil in the Motza Valley near Jerusalem. (Amos Frumkin)
April 25, 2025, 7:43 am
Israeli study finds burst of fires 8,000 years ago forced humans to become farmers
Hebrew University researcher says lightning-ignited blazes transformed Levant’s landscape, ending hunter-gatherer lifestyle but creating perfect condition for birth of agriculture
By Sue Surkes
A spindle whorl found at Nahal Ein Gev II, held up in front of a 3D model. (courtesy Hebrew University/Daniel Rolider for Smithsonian-Magazine)
November 13, 2024, 9:05 pm
12,000-year-old Stone Age site in Israel reveals first evidence of wheel technology
Over 100 small stone objects from Neolithic period are the earliest instance of ‘spindle whorls,’ used to spin fibers into yarn, predating previously known textile tools by 4,000 years
By Gavriel Fiske
Stone sinkers likely used to weigh down fishing nets, found at the 'Habonim North' martime archaeological site, off the coast of northern Israel. (courtesy Cambridge University Press/CC BY)
May 2, 2024, 5:24 pm
Neolithic site shows how villagers weathered drought, climate change 8,000 years ago
At a submerged village off Israel’s northern coast, archaeologists discover a trove of artifacts showing how the settlement lived and survived during the global 8.2ka climatic event
By Gavriel Fiske
This photo provided by Jordan Tourism Ministry shows two carved standing stones at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert. A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine. The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter. (Tourism Ministry via AP)
February 23, 2022, 5:40 am
Almost perfectly preserved 9,000-year-old shrine discovered in Jordanian desert
Ritual complex found in ancient Neolithic campsite near mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter
By OMAR AKOUR
Detail of the north-east quarter of the cremation pit during excavation. A fragment of collapsed wall inside the pit is visible (star). (Bocquentin et al, 2020/PLOS ONE, CC BY)
August 13, 2020, 4:23 pm
Neolithic cremains in Israel are Mideast’s oldest funerary pyre, claims scholar
Levant’s first deliberate cremation occurred between 7013-6700 BCE, according to new analysis of remains of young adult discovered in northern Israel’s Beisamoun site in 2013
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Photographs of finds from the Tel Hreiz settlement. (a-b) exposure of stone-built features in shallow water. (c) wooden posts dug into the seabed. (d) bifacial flint adze. (e) in situ stone bowl made of sandstone. (f) in situ basalt grounding stone (scale = 20cm); (g) burial 1. (h) suspected stone built cist grave - view from the east (scale = 20cm). (i) in situ antler of Mesopotamian fallow deer, Dama dama mesopotamica. (All photographs by E. Galili with the exception of Fig 3G by V. Eshed)
December 18, 2019, 9:27 pm
7,000-year-old seawall, built to block rising sea levels, found off Haifa coast
With discovery of world’s oldest known breakwater, archaeological record shows how Neolithic villages tried – sometimes in vain – to protect their homes from melting glaciers
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The huge settlement from the Neolithic Period that was discovered in the archaeological excavations at the Motza intersection near Jerusalem by the Antiquities Authority. (Eyal Marco, Antiquities Authority)
July 16, 2019, 1:07 pm
A ‘game changer’: Vast, developed 9,000-year-old settlement found near Jerusalem
Remains of Neolithic site near Motza, the largest ever discovered in Israel, show mix of agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry — a society at its peak, say archaeologists
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
A 9,000-year-old stone mask discovered in the South Hebron Hills area of the West Bank in early 2018. (Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
November 28, 2018, 1:15 pm
9,000-year-old mask from Hebron Hills sheds light on the dawn of agriculture
Archaeologists say rare stone artifact uncovered in southern West Bank was used in ancestor worship during a pivotal period in Neolithic culture
By ToI Staff
Itamar Barnea, 10, with an 11,500-year-old fertility figurine he found in the Upper Galilee in 2016. Photo taken in August 2018. (Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
August 30, 2018, 3:12 pm
8-year-old boy stumbled on rare 11,500-year-old fertility figurine on hike
2 years ago, Itamar Barnea, an archaeology enthusiast, pocketed an unusually shaped pebble; when his mother handed it to authorities, it was found to be an ancient statuette
By Michael Bachner
Dr. Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, right, and Ali Shakaiteer sampling cereals in the Shubayqa area in northeastern Jordan where ancient bread was found. (Joe Roe)
July 17, 2018, 4:27 pm
Bread was being baked in Jordan 4,000 years before the start of agriculture
At 14,400-year-old hunter-gatherer site, archaeologists find oldest direct evidence of breadmaking, suggesting desire for bread may have sparked farming
By ToI Staff
This undated photo provided by the National Museum of Georgia in November 2017 shows a 3-inch (8-centimeter) shard of pottery vessels about 8,000 years old, found south of Tblisi, Georgia. (National Museum of Georgia via AP)
November 14, 2017, 11:52 am
World’s earliest evidence of wine-making found in Georgia
8,000 year-old pottery shards found by researchers from Israel and elsewhere push back earliest production from grapes by 1,000 years
By Kerry SHERIDAN
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