Some 100,000 years ago, a group of early humans gathered on the terrace before a cave in the Lower Galilee to bury one of their own. The mourners honored the deceased with several offerings, including sea shells, ochre pieces, and a lithic artifact.

According to new research by Israeli and European scholars, that tool, unearthed in the 1970s at the site known today as the Qafzeh Cave, has been instrumental in proving that our ancestors were capable of abstract thinking and artistic expression much earlier than generally thought.

“Most researchers adopt a very European-focused viewpoint suggesting that modern humans conquered the world some 50,000 years ago because they were capable of abstract thinking, were better organized, knew how to work in groups, and therefore managed to overcome the Neanderthals and other types of hominins,” Dr. Mae Goder-Goldberger told The Times of Israel in a phone interview. “Our research focused on proving that abstract thinking and use of symbolism existed much earlier, as suggested by other scholars.”

Goder-Goldberger, who works with both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, co-authored the paper published in the Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences journal last month. Other authors include Dr. João Marreiros of the Laboratory for Traceology and Controlled Experiments at MONREPOS, Johannes Gutenberg University, and the University of Algarve.

The........

© The Times of Israel