(ORDO NEWS) — During the latest excavations carried out on the territory of Israel, scientists discovered an incredibly rare tusk that belonged to an extinct species of elephant. The age of the find is almost 500 thousand years.
The researchers said that this tusk is proof that prehistoric people had certain social rituals. The height of the artifact reaches 2.6 meters, and the weight is 150 kg.
It was discovered by biologist Eitan More at the site where excavations were conducted in the immediate vicinity of Revadim (a village in the southern part of Israel).
“It became interesting that this ancient tusk is the largest among those previously found in the Middle East. At the same time, its owner died more than 400,000 years ago,” says Avi Levi.
Along with the tusk, researchers discovered silicon tools used by prehistoric man to work and skin animals.
Most likely, these tools were used most often for elephants. Levy noted that it is currently unknown which prehistoric people lived in this region.
“We did not manage to find human remains. We found only traces of human activity. A lot of garbage thrown away after use – bones and various tools made of silicon,” the scientist added.
Revadim has previously been excavated, during which it was possible to find evidence that ancient people worked with ivory. Some of them were turned into tools and kitchen utensils.
If we take into account the size of the discovered tusk, we can say that the height of the animal reached 5 meters.
This is much larger than modern African elephants. The ancient animal could give a huge amount of meat, so hunting such elephants was a certain social function.
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