A new study by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University (TAU), and The Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the earliest known evidence of the use of the hallucinogenic drug opium, and psychoactive drugs in general, in the world. The opium residue was found in ceramic vessels discovered at Tel Yehud, in an excavation… Read More
A joint study by researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Hebrew University has unraveled the earliest evidence for domestication of a fruit tree. The researchers analyzed remnants of charcoal from the Chalcolithic site of Tel Zaf in the Jordan Valley and determined that they came from olive trees. Since the olive did not… Read More
After examining flint tools from one layer at the 500,000-year-old prehistoric site of Revadim in the south of Israel’s Coastal Plain, Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers surmise that prehistoric humans were collectors by nature and culture. The study suggests that they had an emotional urge to collect old human-made artefacts, mostly as a means for… Read More
A groundbreaking study in prehistoric archaeology at Tel Aviv University (TAU) provides evidence for high cognitive abilities in early humans who lived 170,000 years ago. They discovered that the early humans who occupied the cave had placed their hearth at an optimal location, enabling maximum utilization of the fire for their activities and needs while… Read More
A new Tel Aviv University (TAU) study has determined that, thanks to advanced management methods and impressive technological creativity, the Arava Valley’s copper industry managed to thrive and become the largest and most advanced smelting center in the ancient world about three thousand years ago. The study was conducted by graduate student David Luria of… Read More
A groundbreaking study by researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) tracks the development of early humans’ hunting practices over the last 1.5 million years as reflected in the animals they hunted and consumed. The researchers claim that at any given time early humans preferred to hunt the largest animals available in their surroundings, which provided… Read More
Based on the identification of plant remains, Tel Aviv University (TAU) and Tel-Hai College researchers have reconstructed in detail the climate in the Land of Israel at the end of the last ice age, 10,000-20,000 years ago. The researchers claim that significant climate changes characterizing the period, manifested by sharp differences in temperature and precipitation… Read More
International research by Tel Aviv University (TAU), the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome, and the University of California San Diego has uncovered findings regarding the magnetic field that prevailed in the Middle East between approximately 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. Researchers examined pottery and burnt flints from archaeological sites in Jordan, on… Read More