An archaeological dig in Jaljulia, near route 6. (photo credit: SHMUEL MAGAL/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY)
A unique 500,000-year-old prehistoric site was exposed in the Arab town of Jaljulya in central Israel on Sunday, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, who collaborated on the dig.
Hundreds of thousands of flint-stone tools from the lower Paleolithic era were uncovered in an area spanning nearly 2.5 acres, a rare find that is one of very few of its kind in the Levant region. According to Ron Barkai, head of the TAU Archaeology Department, these flint tools “supply us with important information regarding prehistoric man’s lifestyle... The tools that were found here can be attributed to Homo Erectus, the forefather of all human beings alive today.”