Ancient teeth reveal evidence of 400,000 year-old manmade pollution in Israel

A multi-national team of researchers found the first known case of manmade pollution in a cave in Israel. The evidence was found in the hardened dental plaque of 400,000-year-old teeth, which had locked-in respiratory irritants, including traces of charcoal— a manmade environmental pollution.

More recently in 2017, the analysis of a large collection of hundreds of flint stones and flakes was made at the site, leading archaeologists to conclude that this cave was used as a early form of learning center – a ‘school of rock’ as it was described.

Qesem cave – an archaeological treasure trove

Phys.org reports that researchers from Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with scholars from Spain, the UK, and Australia, found the fossilized teeth at Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv, a Lower Paleolithic archaeological site that was occupied by early humans and has already yielded thousands of fossils and artifacts including blades, knives, flakes, hammer stones, hand-axes, and bones from 4,740 animals, such as deer, aurochs, horses, pigs, goats, tortoises and rhinoceroses.

Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv (Wikimedia Commons)