A survey conducted by a Tel Aviv University (TAU) archaeologist and a resident of the Arab city of Sakhnin recently revealed a series of Paleolithic sites containing hundreds of handaxes — large, carefully crafted stone tools — identified with Homo erectus, the early human species that lived in the region hundreds of thousands of years… Read More
A new study led by a Tel Aviv University (TAU) researcher examined dinosaur fossils preserved with their feathers and found that these dinosaurs had lost the ability to fly. According to the researchers, this finding offers a glimpse into the functioning of creatures that lived 160 million years ago and their impact on the evolution… Read More
A new international study led by researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research provides the first scientific evidence that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had biological and social relations, and even interbred for the first time, in the Land of Israel. The research team found a combination of Neanderthal… Read More
A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) presents a fresh perspective on a question that has long preoccupied prehistory scholars: What prompted early humans to begin using fire? According to the researchers, early humans, who primarily consumed large game, required fire not for cooking, but in order to smoke and dry meat so that… Read More
A team of Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers from the discipline of prehistoric archaeology has proposed an innovative hypothesis regarding an intriguing question: Why did ancient humans bring their young children to cave painting sites, deep underground and through dark, meandering, hazardous passages? While most hypotheses have focused on the educational aspect of their presence… Read More
For over a century, archaeologists have puzzled over the absence of cave art in the Levant in general and specifically in Israel. Now a team of archaeologists from Tel Aviv University (TAU) proposes an original explanation: prehistoric humans in the Levant did not create cave paintings because many large animals, the subjects of cave art… Read More
A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) overturns prevailing scientific beliefs that King Solomon’s Mines not only harmed the health of workers in the ancient copper industry but also poses risks to the health of modern residents living near the site. In the new study, researchers conducted geochemical surveys at copper production sites in… Read More
A rare prehistoric ritual complex has been uncovered in the darkest depths of Manot Cave in the Western Galilee, Israel. The complex is enclosed naturally by impressive stalagmites that create a distinctive entrance to the site and features a unique and impressive rock with geometric engravings resembling a turtle shell. Researchers say that the layout… Read More