Researchers from Tel Aviv University have solved the puzzle of why Homo erectus returned again and again to certain quarries and sites where Paleolithic tools were made over hundreds of thousands of years. It turned out that these areas were strategically chosen along the migration routes of elephants, who were hunted and processed with flint tools made in these areas.

The study was conducted by Dr. Jacob M. Alkov from the Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. It was conducted by Meir Finkel and Professor Ran Barkai. The study was published in the journal. archaeologies.

Study of flint mining sites and tool making

Professor Barkai and his colleagues have been investigating flint mining and tool-making sites in the Upper Galilee for nearly 20 years. These sites are characterized by large flint nodules suitable for manufacturing and are located within walking distance of the main Paleolithic sites in the Hula Valley, Gesher Benot Yaakov and Maayan Baruch.

These areas have thousands of quarries and mining sites where prehistoric people made tools and left sacrifices, although flint has been found in other geological formations in various locations as far back as half a million years ago, during the Lower Paleolithic period. Because elephants were the main food for these early humans, researchers at Tel Aviv University cross-checked an area distribution database with a database of elephant migration routes and found that flint mining and cutting sites were located within the rock. Exposure near elephant migration routes.

Strategic placement of quarries near water sources

Dr. “An elephant consumes an average of 400 liters of water a day, so they have fixed movement paths,” says Finkel. “These are animals that rely on their daily water supply and therefore on water sources (the banks of lakes, rivers and streams). In most cases, elephants find their hunting and processing grounds at “necessary crossings”, that is, in places where a stream or river passes through a steep mountain pass, or where a lakeside road connects with the shore.” We find it where it is confined to the space between mountain ranges.

At the same time, the opportunity for a group of hunter-gatherers to consume elephant prey was limited, given the lack of available conservation tools and the presence of predators in the area. Therefore a large number of suitable cutting tools had to be prepared in advance and nearby. “That’s why we find quarries and logging areas in the Upper Galilee a short distance from elephant slaughterhouses on elephant movement routes.”

The researchers then tried to apply a model adapted from the one they had developed in Israel to various Lower Paleolithic sites in Asia, Europe and Africa where such a “triad” was present. This included both places where elephants or mammoths were hunted, and later where other animals such as hippos, camels and horses were hunted.

“The Paleolithic holy trinity seems to apply to everyone: Wherever there was water, there were elephants, and wherever there were elephants, people had to find suitable rocks to mine and make tools to hunt and slaughter their favorite herbivores. “, says Professor Barkai. “It was a tradition: For hundreds of thousands of years, elephants roamed the same route, and people made stone tools nearby. Eventually those elephants disappeared and the world was changed forever.”