When elephants died out during the Paleolithic era some 400,000 years ago, ancient residents in what is modern-day Israel created special stone tools to kill and process fallow deer to eat.The unique stone tools were made of flint from the Mountains of Samaria – located east of the prehistoric sites of Jaljulya and Qesem Cave. As a result, the researchers from Tel Aviv University who discovered this suggest that Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim – two mountains close to each other and having biblical significance – were held sacred by prehistoric hunters as early as the Paleolithic era.Today, the city of Nablus (Shechem) is located in the valley between Gerizim to the south and Ebal to the north.The word “fallow” to describe the deer comes from the Old English word “fealu,” which is translated as brownish yellow. Today, the species is native to Israel and Iran, but long ago, it was found throughout the Middle East.
Many fallow-deer bones were found at the altar site on Mount Gerizim, attributed in the Bible to Joshua bin Nun, and identified by some traditions as the place of Abraham’s Covenant of the Pieces described in Genesis. The Samarian mountains had a prominent or even sacred status as early as the Paleolithic period and retained their unique cultural position for hundreds of thousands of years.The TAU researchers said the new stone tools had a working edge shaped like scales, which was perfect for carrying out a variety of jobs including butchering and processing the deer. When the elephants became extinct in the region, the ancient hunters had to adapt themselves to eating another species that was plentiful.
Early humans used stone tools called scrapers
About 1.5 million years ago, early humans used stone tools called scrapers to process hides and scrape the flesh off the bones of mostly large game. In the Levant, they hunted elephants and other large herbivores that provided most of the calories they needed. The study found, however, that about 400,000 years ago, following the elephants’ disappearance, hunters turned to a different kind of prey, fallow deer that were considerably smaller and swifter than elephants.Litov explained that “we tried to understand why stone tools changed during prehistoric times, with a focus on a technological change in scrapers in the Lower Paleolithic era. We found a dramatic change in the human diet during this period, probably resulting from a change in the available fauna. The large game, particularly elephants, had disappeared, and humans were forced to hunt smaller animals, especially fallow deer. Butchering a large elephant is one thing, and processing a much smaller and more delicate fallow deer is quite a different challenge.The systematic processing of numerous fallow deer to compensate for a single elephant was a complicated and demanding task that demanded the development of new implements. As a result, there was the emergence of the new Quina scrapers, with a better-shaped, sharper, more uniform working edge compared to the simple scrapers used before.”The study relied on findings from an excavation at the Jaljulya prehistoric site next to Highway 6 in central Israel, probably inhabited by humans of the homo erectus species, as well as evidence from the nearby Qesem Cave. At both sites, the excavators discovered many scrapers of the new type that were made of non-local flint whose nearest sources are the western slopes of Samaria to the east of the excavated sites or today’s Ben Shemen Forest to the south.“In this study, we identified links between technological developments and changes in the fauna hunted and consumed by early humans,” Barkai added. “For many years, researchers believed that the changes in stone tools resulted from biological and cognitive changes in humans. But we discovered a double connection, both practical and perceptual.On the one hand, humans started making more sophisticated tools because they had to hunt and butcher smaller, faster, thinner game. On the other hand, we identify a perceptual connection: Mounts Ebal and Gerizim in Samaria, about 20 km. east of Jaljulya, were a home range of fallow deer and thus considered a source of plenty.We found a connection between the plentiful source of fallow deer and the source of flint used to butcher them, and we believe that this link held perceptual significance for these prehistoric hunters. They knew where the fallow deer came from and made special efforts to use flint from the same area to make tools for butchering this prey.This behavior is familiar from many other places worldwide and is still widely practiced by native hunter-gatherer communities.”Litov concluded that “we believe that the Mountains of Samaria were sacred to the prehistoric people of the Qesem Cave and Jaljulya because that’s where the fallow deer came from. It’s important to note that in Jaljulya. We also found many other tools made of different kinds of locally procured stones.When the locals realized that the elephant population was dwindling, they gradually shifted their focus to fallow deer. Identifying the deer’s plentiful source, they began to develop unique scrapers in the same place. This is the earliest instance of a phenomenon that later spread throughout the world.”