Human bones that experts date back some 8,000 years were found recently at the site of an ancient submerged village on the Mediterranean seabed offshore from the town of Atlit.
The discovery was made by Professor Avraham Ronen and researcher Ehud Galili of Haifa University. The marine archaeologists spotted the bones after a storm that cleared away layers of sand that had covered them. They were reported in an “excellent state of preservation.”
Examination of one of the skeletons detected signs that the person suffered from an ear infection common among sea divers. If this is proven correct, it would be the first evidence that human beings dived for fish in pre-historic times.
The village itself, under 46 feet of water, was discovered four years ago, It is believed to have met its fate at the end of the last Ice Age, when rising waters flooded the coastal plane.
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.
