Israeli archaeologists on Wednesday unveiled a 2.6-meter-long elephant tusk dating back to prehistoric times, discovered in central Israel. The oldest tusk found whole at a prehistoric site in the Middle East, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (AIA), it was discovered in the area of the kibbutz of Revadim, near Ashkelon, and weighs around 150 kg.
“Gigantic elephants roamed and grazed on this prehistoric site on Israel’s coastal plain half a million years ago, evidenced by this exceptionally well-preserved ancient tusk,” the AIA said in a statement. It comes from a so-called straight-tusked elephant, a species “that disappeared from this region about 400,000 years ago,” Avi Levy, director of excavations at the AIA, told AFP.
“Fantastic”
Based on the size of this tusk, the elephant must have been 4.5 to 5 meters tall. Elephant bones had already been found in this sector of Israel but not a tusk of this type, described as a “fantastic” find by Mr. Levy.
“The discovery of the tusk, detached from the skull and the rest of the body (of the elephant), raises the question: is the tusk the remains of a hunted elephant or was it collected by local inhabitants in prehistory? Did the defense have a social or spiritual meaning?” ask Ofer Marder, professor of archeology at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva (south), and Ianir Milevski, director of the prehistory branch at the AIA.
Flint tools have been found near the tusk, used by prehistoric people to skin and carve animals.