In southern Israel , near the kibbutz of Revadim , there ’s a half - million - year - old elephant cemetery . It dates back to when herds of the gigantic savage roamed as far north as Great Britain , with only the odd former human hunting political party to view out for .
But these were n’t elephant as we know them today : they werePalaeoloxodon antiquus – thestraight - detusk elephant . And it ’s one of those tusks – a specimen measure out a whopping 2.5 meter ( 8.2 foot ) long – which has late been chance on by investigator working on a two - week investigating capably named “ Operation Elephant ” .
The new discovery is “ the orotund complete fossil ivory ever found at a prehistoric web site in Israel or the Near East , ” explained Levy . But it ’s highly frail , making its excavation difficult even for experienced archeologist : exposure to human mite , or just melody and sunlight , could be enough to make the entire artifact disintegrate .
An archaeologist uncovering the tusk. Image credit: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority
elephant were know to be hunt along with other large mammal in the area – wild cattle , hippopotami , deer , wild Sus scrofa , wild horses , and so on – but finding their remains in archaeological sites is rarified . premature mining at the same site had already revealed minuscule clues , like scrap of elephant skull , ribs , and teeth , as well as ancient flint pecker used for processing animal chassis , such as bit putz , mitt - axis , and hack puppet .
But elephants are famously declamatory – and straight - horn elephants were even more so , growing up to 4.5 meters , or nearly 15 feet , in tiptop and consider more than 14 tonnes . That ’s even big and great than today ’s African elephants , making the hunting and kill of one quite the feat .
Which bring up a question that ’s been debated for some sentence now : was elephant hunting a normal thing for our prehistoric ascendant ? Or was it something appropriate only for extra occasions ?
It’s pretty large. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority
“ The assiduity of the material stay – mostly Harlan Fiske Stone shaft – in the current digging and at the full internet site , designate that there was a substantial numeral of people at the site in one full point of clip and that elephants were hunted , ” they explained . “ In the hot dry clime in our region , elephant ’s kernel could not stay new for foresightful , so it must have been consumed quickly by many people , probably as part of a communal case . ”
But no matter of the issue – whether prehistoric humans were on a regular basis chowing down on elephant sandwich or if it was a uncommon celebration – the ivory is an incredible discovery , both for the pedantic community and for the world at large .
