• Published 11:21 11.01.10
  • Latest update 11:22 11.01.10

Archeologists discover 8,000-year-old building in Tel Aviv

Hippopotamus bones and teeth that probably belonged to sheep or goat also discovered at site.

By Haaretz Service Tags: Israel news

Remains of a prehistoric building, the earliest ever discovered in the Tel Aviv region and estimated to be between 7,800 and 8,400 years old, were recently discovered in an archaeological excavation in Ramat Aviv.

Ancient artifacts thought to be 13,000 and 100,000 years old were also discovered there.

Archaeologist Ayelet Dayan, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that "this discovery is both important and surprising to researchers of the period. For the first time we have encountered evidence of a permanent habitation that existed in the Tel Aviv region 8,000 years ago."

"The site is located on the northern bank of the Yarkon River, not far from the confluence with Nahal Ayalon. We can assume that this fact influenced the ancient settlers in choosing a place to live. The fertile alluvium soil along the fringes of the streams was considered a preferred location for a settlement in ancient periods," she said.

During the Neolithic period (also known as the New Stone Age) man went from a nomadic existence of hunting and gathering to living in permanent settlements and began to engage in agriculture.

Remains of an ancient building with at least three rooms were discovered at the site. The pottery shards that were found there attest to the age of the site, which dates to the Neolithic period. In addition, flint tools such as sickle blades were discovered, as well as numerous flakes left over from the knapping of these implements, which are indicative of an ancient tool-making industry.

Flint implements that are also ascribed to earlier periods were discovered at the site: a point of a hunting tool from the Middle Paleolithic period and items that date to c. 13,000 years ago.

Other interesting finds were also uncovered in the excavation, among them a fragment of a base of a basalt bowl and animal remains - hippopotamus bones and teeth that probably belonged to sheep or goat.

Ancient animal remains discovered at the oldest known building in Tel Aviv.

Photo by: (Israel Antiquities Authority)
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  • 15. 0 0
    #9 Lincoln: Get Out Much? Especially To The Middle East?
    • Lavi
    • 11.01.10
    • 18:43

    Don't be so confused and incoherent about basic historical and archaeological facts in this part of the middle east, Israel isn't. Don't make a Goliath out of the Palestinians either.

  • 14. 0 0
    Brad #13
    • Froy
    • 11.01.10
    • 17:24

    Wrong, Brad, the internationally accepted law principle is either "right of blood" (ius sanguinus), where people inherit the right to the land from their direct ancestors, or "right of ground" (ius soli), where those who have been actually born in the land have an inalienable right to citizenship on it. In both cases native Palestinian Arabs have the upper hand over immigrated Jewish colonists.

  • 13. 0 0
    Mark Lincon
    • Brad
    • 11.01.10
    • 16:00

    If First People no longer exist, then those with superior rights are the second Peoples. The international & domestic law principle is "first in time, first in right". Pals lose in any event. Nice.

  • 12. 0 0
    Esther - the answer to your question is simple.
    • Stephen
    • 11.01.10
    • 15:48

    No. How can the site be Jewish when it dates from a time that pre-dates Judaism? The answer to your second question - what the heck were they doing on 'Jewish' land... that's simple to. They were living.

  • 11. 0 0
    Interesting find
    • Chris Linthwaite
    • 11.01.10
    • 15:15

    It appears that 8000 years ago there were settlements in what was to become The Palestine Mandate following what is generally accepted the standard stages of development seen throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and even in the Orkneys in Scotland. No evidence of accelerated development from outside influences then.

  • 10. 0 0
    Ah so there WERE people there before the Jews
    • r cummings
    • 11.01.10
    • 15:10

    then. We all knew that of course, the Jews were migrants from Mesopotamia who managed to defeat some local tribes and lord it over Judea for a brief period in time. (They never made it to Tel Aviv though). Which we must never tire of hearing about endlessly! This archaeology cuts both ways though, disproving more ethnic Jewish claims than it proves - same as Silwan!

  • 9. 0 0
    Uh-Oh!
    • Mark Lincoln
    • 11.01.10
    • 14:48

    This is trouble. Indigenous folks were in Israel before the Jews arrived! There goes the ball game. Philistine for the Philitinians! Is there no end to it? http://www.theonion.com/content/news/sumerians_look_on_in_confusion_as

  • 8. 0 0
    UN report?
    • DanE
    • 11.01.10
    • 14:46

    The remains of the building look consistent with an Israeli air strike. Expect a UN investigation into war crimes soon!

  • 7. 0 0
    Esther # 1.
    • David Nigel Braham
    • 11.01.10
    • 13:39

    How can they be Jewish if our year is 5770? All this talk of objects more than 5770 is a load of old rubbish.

  • 6. 0 0
    3 room apt in Ramat Aviv
    • eddie
    • 11.01.10
    • 13:31

    I wonder if there was a flinstone shopping mall there too?

  • 5. 0 0
    New property development?
    • Tel Avivi
    • 11.01.10
    • 13:29

    Sure some property developer will be offering apartments in this 'building' at exorbitant prices soon.

  • 4. 0 0
    More than likely the first shopping mall
    • SJ
    • 11.01.10
    • 13:15

    It was more than likely the first shopping Mall in ramat aviv, where Wilma Cohen Flinstone went to do her shopping.

  • 3. 0 0
    Ancient settlers
    • MN
    • 11.01.10
    • 12:45

    Hope these ancient settlers were Jewish!!!Ha,ha!!!

  • 2. 0 0
    Stone Age building ?
    • Motic
    • 11.01.10
    • 12:30

    So they found a Stone Age building. May be Hamas were here after all !

  • 1. 0 0
    But the whole point is, were they Jewish...?
    • Esther
    • 11.01.10
    • 12:18

    ... otherwise what-the-heck are they doing on 'our' territory...?