Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 500,000-year-old archaeological site which extends over an area of 10 dunums (0.01 square kilometres) during excavations near the town of Jaljulia, northeast of Tel Aviv, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
The channel said archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Archaeology Department at Tel Aviv University found hundreds of thousands of artefacts on the site, hundreds of which were hand-made.
“The site is very important and interesting and was like a paradise in prehistoric times. Everything people needed to live at the time was available here,” the channel quoted the head of the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, Professor Ran Barkai, as saying. “It was a perfect spot for humans.”
Barkai pointed out that the site is considered “unique” because few sites which date back to this period have been discovered in the region.
Palestinian lawyer and rights activist, Jihad Abu Raya, has warned that Israel could use the discovery to confiscate Palestinian lands and property in the area under the pretext of carrying out more excavations.