A cave in Galilee hints at prehistoric ritual gatherings in a cave that holds evidence of Neanderthal and human occupation.
A distinctive rock in the deepest part of a northern Israeli cave suggests the space may have been used for communal rituals about 35,000 years ago, according to a group of researchers that investigated the find.this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—posit that communal rituals may have occurred around a carved boulder in the deepest, darkest part of Manot Cave.
“It may have represented a totem or spiritual figure,” said Omry Barzilai, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, and leader of the team, in a Case Western Reserve University. “Its special location, far from the daily activities near the cave entrance, suggests that it was an object of worship.”
The recent paper builds on that finding by adding a short-lived cultural dimension to the cave’s occupation. Neanderthals and other prehistoric humans didn’t merely hang out in the cave, the team concluded; they also brought in torches and took the time to carve a geometric pattern in a distinctive rock separate from the living quarters.The team studied five stalagmites in different parts of the cave and found one with evidence of soot residue.
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