Prehistoric elephant tusk discovered in Israel
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The tusk of more than 2.6 meters could enlighten archaeologists on the diet and behavior of men during the Lower Paleolithic.
Israeli archaeologists on Wednesday (August 31) unveiled a 2.6-meter-long elephant tusk dating from prehistoric times, discovered in central Israel. The oldest tusk found whole on a prehistoric site in the Middle East, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (AIA), it was updated in the area of the kibbutz of Revadim, near Ashkelon, and weighs around 150 kg.
“Gigantic elephants roamed and grazed on this prehistoric site on Israel’s coastal plain half a million years ago, this exceptionally well-preserved ancient tusk attests,” explained the AIA in a press release. It comes from a so-called straight-tusked elephant, a species “having disappeared from this region about 400,000 years ago”, Avi Levy, director of excavations at the AIA, told AFP. Based on the size of this tusk, the elephant must have been 4.5 to 5 meters tall.
A tusk detached from the skull
Elephant bones had previously been found in this area of Israel, but not a tusk of this type, described as a find “fantastic” by Mr. Levy. “The discovery of the tusk, detached from the skull and the rest of the body (of the elephant), raises the question: is the tusk the remains of a hunted elephant or was it collected by local inhabitants in prehistory? Did defense have a social or spiritual meaning? ask Ofer Marder, professor of archeology at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva (south), and Ianir Milevski, director of the prehistory branch at the AIA. Flint tools have been found near the tusk, used by prehistoric people to skin and carve animals.
Archaeologists point out that the tusk is very fragile and can break. When it is extracted from the ground, it will be transferred to an AIA laboratory for study and preservation.
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