Archaeology & anthropology

100,000-Year-Old Burial Site Found in Israel's Cave

Published JUL 29 2025

Story

Above: Artifacts that were found at an excavation site by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Qiryat Gat, on Jan. 6, 2025. Image credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

Researchers have discovered one of the world's oldest burial sites inside a cave in Israel, where the remains of early humans, dating back at least 100,000 years, were carefully arranged in pits.
Los Angeles Times
Popular Mechanics
The well-preserved Middle Paleolithic human remains were discovered in Tinshemet Cave in central Israel, according to a report published in an academic journal earlier this year.
India Today
Haaretz
According to the researchers, the findings "indicate consolidation of a uniform behavioral set in the Levantine mid-MP." The artifacts found included basalt pebbles and animal remains.
Popular Mechanics
Africanews
Nature
The discoveries indicate human burial practices could be traced back to at least 100,000 years, although it is unclear what human species — Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, or a hybrid — they belonged to.
Wwlp
Africanews
Christian Tryon, a professor at the University of Connecticut who was not involved in the study, noted that the remains are contemporaneous with those found in two caves in northern Israel — Skhul Cave and Qafzeh Cave — years ago.
Baku
CBS 42
Israel, a bridge between Neanderthals from Europe and Homo sapiens from Africa in ancient times, was reportedly inhabited by at least two species — early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals — in the Middle Paleolithic period.
Haaretz
CBS 42

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

These findings are profoundly significant as the ancient burials represent a pivotal moment in human evolution — the birth of abstract thinking, ritual behavior, and our species' first grappling with mortality and meaning beyond physical existence.

Los Angeles Times

Haaretz

Narrative B

While Tinshemet's discoveries are undeniably compelling, it's important to resist the allure of grand narratives. Archaeological interpretation remains perilously subjective. Until irrefutable evidence emerges, these tantalizing glimpses demand scholarly restraint.

Africanews

Popular Mechanics