The people who lived 15,000 years ago in what is now Israel celebrated snakes and lizards, archaeologists have discovered.
Previous excavations in Levante, a geographic region that historically included Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan, unearthed thousands of bones belonging to lizards and snakes. Animal bones are usually found where ancient people lived if animals were eaten. But it was not known if lizards and snakes were part of the human diet or if their bones were left behind by other predators.
Experimenting with the bones of modern squamates, the group that includes lizards and snakes, the researchers developed visual references for different types of surface damage, such as erosion, burning, or digestion of birds of prey. When scientists compared these patterns to damage to the squamate bones at el-Wad Terrace, a cave site near Mount Carmel in Israel that was occupied by humans between 11,500 and 15,000 years ago, they determined that many of the ancient bones had been eaten by people.
Related: Photos: Ancient burial and metal tool from southern Levante
The human communities in the Levant at this time were known as Natufian. They were primarily hunters and gatherers and considered the first non-nomadic society; The semi-sedentary habits of the Natufian culture were probably a precursor for humans to establish themselves and become farmers.
In the el-Wad Terrace settlement, the site was densely covered with animal remains, of which “a high percentage” belonged to lizards and snakes, the researchers reported in a new study, published online June 10 in the magazine. Scientific reports.
The amount of squamate bones at the site was staggering; That only hinted at human consumption as a possible explanation, said study lead author Ma’ayan Lev, a doctoral candidate in archeology at the University of Haifa in Israel.
“I have worked on several zooarchaeological assemblies and have never encountered such a large number before,” Lev told Live Science in an email.
Thousands of bones
About 3,000 squamate remains, mostly vertebrae, were collected at el-Wad, representing approximately 33% of all animal remains at the site. The most common squamate species was the European glass lizard without legs (Pseudopus apodus), followed by the great whip snake (Dolichophis yugularis) the eastern serpent of Montpellier (Malpolon insignitus) and the common snake (Daboia palaestinae)
When archaeologists examine the bones of the animals, they look for certain telltale marks indicating that the animals had been slaughtered and eaten by humans. Detecting such evidence in the small bones of snakes and lizards is difficult, and other types of damage such as erosion can make those marks even more difficult to detect, according to the study.
To more accurately interpret the different types of bone damage in el-Wad, the researchers conducted “weathering experiments” where they observed how modern bones were damaged by digestion by birds of prey; erosion wear; burning and trampling.
These experiments allowed scientists to observe how weathering changes the surface of squamate bones. It also helped them detect digestion marks “even when overlapping processes such as weathering and sediment erosion occurred,” Lev explained.
“The most surprising finding was the butchery marks on several large whip snake vertebrae,” which appeared at identical locations on different bones and even on the same side of the bones, Lev said in the email.
In addition to the cut marks, most of the bones of large whip snakes and glass lizards showed no signs of being digested by birds of prey, and “were probably consumed by site dwellers,” the study authors wrote. According to the study, other squamous species, “primarily the eastern Montpellier snake, viper, and small lizards and snakes,” fell prey to birds of prey or died naturally.
This discovery provides valuable clues to dietary habits in Levant’s Natufian culture, as humans adapted to more agrarian lifestyles, Lev told Live Science.
“We hope that this study will shed light on the importance of squamate remains in the Natufian, and provide a tool for discerning between cultural and natural accumulations of squamates in other zooarchaeological studies at Natufian,” Lev said.
Originally published in Living science.
