Previously unknown prehistoric human discovered in Israel
Hebrew U, TAU researchers find remains of a new type of ‘Homo’ who lived in the region 130,000 years ago
A new type of early human previously not known to scientists has been discovered in Israel, Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University researchers announced Thursday as their extraordinary findings appeared in the prestigious academic journal Science.
Researchers believe the new “Homo” species intermarried with Homo sapiens and was an ancestor of the Neanderthals.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the busy central region of what is now a densely populated and traffic-jammed part of Israel, was a landscape that very much resembled the African savanna. It featured rhinos, wild horses and cattle and other large animals that were perfect game for ancient hunter-gatherers.
The site of Nesher Ramla, a few kilometers from the modern-day city, was probably close to a water reservoir where early humans could hunt animals. Today, the dig site is filled with many animal bones, stone tools for making fire and butchering, and human bones, including skulls, TAU anthropologist Prof. Israel Hershkovitz said.
“We know that modern humans – or Homo sapiens – arrived in this area some 200,000 years ago,” he said. “When we started excavating and examining the different archaeological layers, we found that they dated back between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago, so we expected to find remains
of Homo sapiens. We did not realize that another form of human was living alongside them.”
The site was discovered during a salvage excavation led by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Yossi Zaidner at the Nesher cement plant. Israeli law demands that a salvage excavation be carried out alongside any new construction project.
“This is an extraordinary discovery,” said Zaidner. “We never imagined that alongside Homo sapiens, archaic Homo roamed the area so late in human history.”
The researchers believe that the newly discovered human type, which they named after the site, lived in the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and at least until 130,000 years ago.
Hershkovitz said it took a long time to determine that the bones they found indeed belonged to a hitherto unknown species.
“There was no ‘eureka’ moment,” he noted.
But the findings may radically change what researchers have so far believed about how ancient populations evolved and interacted, including how sapiens and Neanderthal, other ancient human types, related to each other.
“We have shown that contrary to what was previously believed, the Neanderthals are not a European story, but very much a story of the Levant,” he said.
Researchers believe the Nesher Ramla was an ancestor of the Neanderthals and other archaic Asian populations.
“Previously, it was thought that Neanderthals arrived in [what is now] Israel around 70,000 to 50,000 years ago from Europe,” Hershkovitz remarked. “However, now we are talking about a population living here some 130,000 years ago.”
Some features of the remains, like the teeth and the jaws, were more similar to Neanderthal species, while the skulls resembled the Homo type. But something did not make sense.
When the researchers understood that the bones they had retrieved did not belong to either a Neanderthal or a Homo sapiens, they started to examine the possibility that they belonged to the last survivors of a more archaic population that they thought had become extinct hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
“We started to look for other members of this population, and we discovered that some fossils previously unearthed at
other prehistoric sites in Israel, including the Qesem cave, belonged to the same group,” Hershkovitz said.
“We therefore realized that we were dealing with a huge population that lived in the region, and probably also migrated in different directions, including in Asia and in Europe and later became the humans we know as Neanderthal.”
According to Hershkovitz, Nesher Ramla Homo and Homo sapiens not only coexisted peacefully and exchanged technology, but also produced offspring.
“They engaged culturally and biologically,” he said. “In Europe, the story was very different because when modern humans arrived there around 45,000 years ago, they completely eliminated the local Neanderthals. This did not happen here.”
“We think that some later fossils we found in several caves dating back to 100,000 years ago probably belonged to offspring of sapiens and Nesher Ramla,” he added.
For example, in the Qafzeh cave in the Lower Galilee, archaeologists found the remains of several humans presenting the features of both species, some closer to the sapiens, some to the Nesher Ramla.
“It is similar to what happens when we see that certain children look more like their mother and some look more like their father,” Hershkovitz noted.
The scientists were not able to extract any DNA from the fossils.
“Warm weather destroys DNA,” Hershkovitz said. “In Israel, we have not been able to find any preserved DNA from earlier than 15,000 years ago.”
For this reason, the researchers’ conclusions are based on the morphology of the bones found.
“People think in paradigms,” said TAU Dr. Rachel Sarig. “That’s why efforts have been made to ascribe these fossils to known human groups like Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis or the Neanderthals. But now we say: No. This is a group in itself, with distinct features and characteristics.”
In the past, geneticists had already suggested that an unknown population represented the missing link between sapiens and Neanderthal, as pointed out by another researcher, Dr. Hila May. The Nesher Ramla population could represent the answer.
“As a crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia, the Land of Israel served as a melting pot where different human populations mixed with one another, to later spread throughout the Old World,” she added. “The discovery from the Nesher Ramla site writes a new and fascinating chapter in the story of humankind.” •
received many threats from senior Palestinian officials because of his anti-corruption campaign.
“They told him you are wanted dead or alive,” the relative said. “Last May, they tried to kill him by shooting at his home.”
In the past few months, Banat posted several videos on Facebook in which he launched scathing attacks on Abbas and the PA leadership and accused them of being responsible for rampant corruption.
In a recent video, Banat denounced the Shtayyeh government over its handling of last week’s Pfizer vaccine exchange agreement with Israel. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel offered the Palestinians more than one million soon-to-expire vaccines enabling them to vaccinate sooner. In return, Israel would receive an identical number of doses purchased by the Palestinians and which are expected to arrive later this year.
Banat was planning to participate in the parliamentary elections as a candidate for a new list called Freedom and Dignity.
After Abbas called off the elections, Banat and his list called on the European Union to halt financial aid to the PA and launch an investigation into the “squandering of European taxpayer money.”
The unprecedented appeal to the EU drew strong condemnations from senior PA and Fatah officials. They accused Banat of “crossing a redline” by appealing to foreign parties to suspend financial aid to the PA.
Shortly after the appeal, unidentified gunmen attacked his house. No one was hurt. Banat hinted that “thugs” belonging to Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction were behind the shooting attack. He claimed that the assailants were escorted by PA security officers.
Banat’s wife, Um Kifah, said hours after she learned about the death of her husband: “Nizar is a
(martyr); he used to tell the truth. My husband was not a thief and he was not corrupt. He always said that his campaign against corruption was aimed at ensuring a better future for our children. They killed one Nizar, but now they will get 1,000 Nizars.”
Mohammed Amru, a political activist and friend of Banat, said the incident was a “big crime” and a “turning point” in the relationship between the PA and the Palestinians.
“The Palestinian Authority has moved from arbitrary arrests to physical liquidation,” Amru said. “We hold President Abbas personally responsible.”
Several Palestinian human rights groups and political factions condemned the incident and demanded an immediate investigation.
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) said it looks “with great concern at the death of the activist Nizar Banat.”
The group said that according to testimonies of eyewitnesses and family members, Banat was beaten and sprayed with gas during his arrest.
“ICHR has begun investigating and collecting information about the death incident,” the group said. “Additionally, ICHR will participate in the autopsy through a forensic doctor delegated by the Commission. The results of the investigation will be announced immediately.”
Palestinian human rights activist Khaled al-Shouli denounced the death of Banat as a “crime against humanity” and called for referring the case to the International Criminal Court.
Hussein Khreisheh, former deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said the “execution of Nizar Banat reflects the state of panic and confusion in the Palestinian Authority.” •