An ancient ritual complex has come to light in the deepest and darkest part of a cave located in what is now northern Israel.
Homo sapiens groups gathered in the cave to hold torch ceremonies, perhaps inspired by mythological or religious beliefs, about 37,000 years ago, researchers report Dec. 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The discovery of this particular chamber in Manot Cave reveals the earliest known evidence of collective ritual practices in the Middle East, say archaeologist Omry Barzilai of the University of Haifa and his colleagues. About 100 individuals could fit in this space, they estimate.
The Manot Cave Ritual Complex resembles an even older cave chamber discovered in France. Neanderthals built circular structures from broken rock formations inside Bruniquel Cave around 176,500 years ago, although it is unclear what activities took place there (SN: 25.5.16). European Neanderthals and H. sapiens also painted and drawn on cave walls 40,000 years ago or more (SN: 1/27/23).
“The obvious concern about creating a confined space deep in a cave is common [by Middle Eastern H. sapiens] with Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens in Europe,” says archaeologist Paul Pettitt from Durham University in England. Activities outside of the everyday, such as rituals followed by regional hunter-gatherer groups, may have occurred in the caves before anyone decorated the cave walls, Pettitt suggests.
Stone tools, cut animal bones and other items previously excavated at various points near the entrance point of Manot Cave in common human occupations from about 46,000 to 33,000 years ago. This includes the time during which collective rituals took place in the back of the cave. Earlier fossil finds put H. sapiens in this cave at least 50,000 years ago (SN: 1/28/15).
The activity in the ritual chamber dates to a time when artifacts in the residential areas show influences of the ancient Aurignacian culture of Europe. Distinctive stone tools, bone points, beads and ivory figurines and early examples of cave art characterized the Aurignacian assemblages. “The ritual composition of Manot Cave is associated with Aurignacian populations arriving from Europe, perhaps reflecting their established ritual traditions,” says Barzilai.
The excellent natural acoustics made this cavernous space a prime location for holding group ceremonies, he adds.
A series of thin natural rock formations rising from the cave floor stand guard outside the back chamber of Manot Cave. A round stone placed in a niche just inside the room features carved lines that create a three-dimensional representation of a turtle’s shell, Barzilai says. Microscopic marks inside the V-shaped grooves indicate that someone carved them into the stone using sharp stones.
Barzilai suspects that the collective rituals at Manot Cave revolved around the replica of the tortoise shell. The spiritual meaning of turtles to the ancient inhabitants of the Middle East, who gathered the slow-moving creatures to supplement their diet, remains unknown. But tortoise shells increasingly appeared in the graves of prominent individuals in this region near the end of the Stone Age (SN: 11/3/08).
Barzilai’s group generated a minimum estimated age for the carving by analyzing the decay rate of radioactive uranium in a thin mineral crust that had formed on the stone. Researchers currently debate the accuracy of this technique for dating cave paintings (SN: 28.10.19). A close match of the mineral crust’s chemical composition to that of previously dated rock formations in the cave helped narrow the age estimate to between 37,000 and 35,000 years ago.
A mineral layer that had formed on a deer antler found on the floor of the room dates to about the same time. The researchers identified several small man-made incisions in the horn.
Particles of wood ash discovered in a rock formation inside the chamber indicated that visitors had lit the black space with torches. Investigators found no remains of fire pits.
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