Discovery of the remains of an ancient civilization in Palestine, closing a gap in knowledge about Stone Age men who lived from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, was announced here today by Millar Burrows, Professor of Biblical Theology at the Yale Divinity School and President of the American Schools of Oriental Research, whose home office is at Yale University.
”This is one of the most significant prehistoric finds in Palestine in recent years,” said Prof. Burrows. ”It provides archaeologists with valuable information about Neolithic men who lived in caves in the Holy Land ages before the times of the Hebrew patriarchs.”
Excavations made under grants from the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Hebrew University by M. Stekelis, resident archaeologist in Palestine, resulted in his finding pottery and household utensils in caves near the seacoast. Flint implements and animal bones were discovered by Stekelis near the seaport of Jaffa. Further north, on the west side of Mt. Carmel, famous in Biblical history for its association with the Prophet Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal, another cave yielded numerous indications of a civilization just emerging from the Stone Age and of the animals which lived at that time. This second cave is near the Crusader Castle at Athlit and the city of Haifa, important Palestinian terminal of the oil pipe line from Iraq which has been bombed frequently during the war.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
