{"id":260841,"date":"2026-08-23T05:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/260841\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T05:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:33:09","slug":"did-ancient-hunter-gatherers-living-in-northern-israel-eat-reptiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/260841\/","title":{"rendered":"Did ancient hunter-gatherers living in northern Israel eat reptiles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ancient Natufians living in northern Israel<\/a> around 15,000 years ago hunted and ate reptiles after establishing permanent settlements in the region, according to a new study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), examines the remains of thousands of lizard and snake bones found during excavations at the \u2018el-wad Terrace\u2019 archaeological<\/a> site in the Nahal Me\u2019arot Nature Reserve on Mount Carmel.<\/p>\n

The excavations were conducted by Dr. Maayan Lev, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Kiel University (CAU) in Germany, alongside co-authors Professor Mina Weinstein-Evron and Professor Reuven Yeshurun of the University of Haifa.<\/p>\n

The site itself includes 20 archaeological layers of repeated settlements over the course of 3,000 years, which researchers have dated to approximately 15,000 and 12,000 years ago using radiocarbon dating.<\/p>\n

\u201cLizards and snakes became an important part of their diet during this period,\u201d said Lev.<\/p>\n

\"MicroscopicMicroscopic images of bones found at the e \u2018el-wad Terrace\u2019 archaeological site in the Nahal Me\u2019arot Nature Reserve on Mount Carmel showing ancient cut marks. (credit: Maayan Lev\/Kiel University, VIA WALLA)Identifying flint knife incisionspm snake bones for first time<\/p>\n

Using precise and close up examination methods, researchers for the first time were able to identify incisions made by flint knives in consistent locations on the bones of large snakes found at the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough meticulous microscopic examinations, we then were able to distinguish reptile remains that died naturally at the site or were preyed upon by mammals and birds from those that served as food for humans,\u201d said Lev, who also conducts research at the University of Haifa\u2019s Zinman Institute of Archaeology.<\/p>\n

The bones discovered at the site were identified as those belonging to the large whip snake (Dolichophis jugularis) and the eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus).<\/p>\n

In addition, researcheres found indirect evidence that Natufians also ate the European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus), though its tougher scales required a different method of butchering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Venomous snakes were rarely caught<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hypothesis is that the Natufian people preferred to catch reptiles that were relatively large, relatively slow and not dangerous,\u201d explained Lev. \u201cIn other words, the glass lizard was an ideal choice, and if none could be found, the hunters would instead catch relatively harmless snakes.”<\/p>\n

“Venomous snakes such as vipers, on the other hand, were rarely caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lev, the large amount of bones from \u201cmore productive\u201d reptiles, such as the glass lizard, across all 20 of the site\u2019s archaeological layers, suggests that they were a reliable food source for the settling Natufians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings shed light on a hitherto little-studied aspect of the relationship between humans and reptiles in prehistory, and they provide a fascinating insight into the diet of humans before the start of the Neolithic<\/a> period,\u201d said Lev.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study was carried out as part of the sedentism origins research project, led by Prof. Reuven Yeshurun of the University of Haifa and funded by the Israel Science Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ancient Natufians living in northern Israel around 15,000 years ago hunted and ate reptiles after establishing permanent settlements…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[13498,17138,14865,34151,11769,37,71767,71764,71768,2509,71766,71765],"class_list":["post-260841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-archaeological-site","tag-archaeological-study","tag-archaeology","tag-bones","tag-diet","tag-israel","tag-lizards","tag-mount-carmel","tag-neolithic","tag-northern-israel","tag-reptiles","tag-snakes"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117143195300436763","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}