More than 15,000 years ago there lived in Palestine a race of people now known to scientists as Natufians who were very fond of ornaments such as beads, pendants. Some of their bone sickle hafts were beautifully carved to represent animal forms. These and other facts about the Natufians were toldersterday by Dr. George Grant MacCurdy of Yale University, who announced plans for excavations in Palestine by the American School of Prehistoric Research and the British School of Archaeology.
The Natufians, Professor Mac-Curdy sold, had apparently learned their first lessons in a simple form of agriculture, but had no domestic animals; neither had they learned the art of pottery making. They had one custom which has not survived–the habit of removing the two front teeth before reaching the adult stage.
ON EXHIBITION
Some sixty skeletons of these Natufians have been excavated in the Valley of the Caves (Wady-Mughara) at the western front of Mount Carmel, twelve miles south of Haifa, and looking over the Plain of Sharon to he sea. There has just opened in the British Museum an exhibition of these finds, Dr. MacCurdy said. Included in the exhibition are relics of previous civilizations in Palestine which go back some 100,000 years. At least thirteen cult {SPAN}##{/SPAN} levels are represented in these relics.
“It is expected that remains of a still older race may be found at the bottom of the Tabun cave, where digging from now until the first of July will be carried on,” Dr. MacCurdy said. “These joint expeditions of the two schools have already proved that Palestine is of great importance, not only as a geographical and historic, but also as a prehistoric link in the chain which binds together the three continents of the Old World.”
Whether it’s local. domestic or foreign, if it’s news about Jewish life you’ll find it in the Jewish Dally Bulletin.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
