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Thursday, October 08, 2026

700,000-year-old elephant tooth reveals a lost ecosystem shared by early humans in the levant

Ancient tooth reveals a lost world inhabited by giant elephants and early toolmakers

Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee

Excavation of the elephant tooth at the Hula Valley excavation site — image:
The study was conducted by PhD candidate Hannah Farrell of the University of Haifa at a site excavated by Prof. Gonen Sharon of Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee.
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Credit: Photos and illustrations courtesy of Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee and Hannah Farrell, University of Haifa

A remarkably preserved elephant tooth previously recovered from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY-NBA) — a prehistoric site in northern Israel, where early humans made stone tools some 700,000 years ago — has now enabled researchers to reconstruct a lush landscape of woodlands, wetlands, and waterways from the Pleistocene. The findings provide a rare glimpse into the environment shared by giant elephants and some of the region's earliest human populations.

The elephant remains were discovered alongside basalt handaxes and cleavers, hallmark tools of the Acheulian tradition, one of the earliest and most widespread stone-tool technologies in human history. Researchers combined multiple analytical techniques to reconstruct a resource-rich environment of woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, and waterways that helped sustain both large mammals and early humans along the Levantine land bridge connecting Africa and Eurasia.

Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, the study led by Hannah Farrell (a PhD candidate at Haifa University) focuses on findings from the excavation site of GBY-NBA by Prof. Gonen Sharon of Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee and his colleagues. The research focuses on a giant elephant molar and tusk fragments discovered alongside Acheulian stone tools at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (Daughters of Jacob Bridge), located in the Jordan Rift Valley, south of today's Hula Valley in northern Israel. The remains belonged to Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the straight-tusked elephant, one of the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene. Rather than studying the elephant alone, researchers used the tooth as a biological archive to reconstruct the broader ecosystem shared by large mammals and early human toolmakers.

What an Ancient Ecosystem Reveals About Human Origins

According to Prof. Sharon, "understanding how humans and animals responded to environmental change hundreds of thousands of years ago helps us better understand the forces that shaped our species."

Using CT scanning, 3D reconstruction, microscopic wear analysis, isotope geochemistry, and pollen studies, the team found evidence for a long-lasting landscape of woodlands, grasslands, marshes, rivers, and shallow-water habitats. Carbon isotope values suggest the elephant lived in a consistently well-watered environment, while pollen recovered from sediments revealed abundant wetland vegetation, including reeds, sedges, willow, tamarisk, and aquatic plants.

The findings indicate that the Hula Valley region formed part of a stable ecological refuge within the Levantine Corridor, the land bridge connecting Africa and Eurasia. Such environments likely provided reliable water and biological resources for wildlife and human groups moving through the region during the Pleistocene.

"The availability of water, vegetation, and animal resources shaped where humans and wildlife could survive," Sharon says. "The wetlands, rivers, and woodlands of the Hula Valley helped sustain life along one of the world's earliest migration corridors, offering a rare opportunity to understand the ecological conditions that supported both animals and human populations nearly 700,000 years ago."

The study was conducted by PhD candidate Hannah Farrell of the University of Haifa at a site excavated by Prof. Gonen Sharon of Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee, in collaboration with Cheryl A. Makarewicz (isotope studies) and Nimrod Marom (archaeozoology) from the University of Haifa, along with Minji Jin and Dafna Langgut (pollen studies) from Tel Aviv University.

About Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee

Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee is a rapidly growing research university addressing challenges in food security, sustainable agriculture, engineering, artificial intelligence (AI), and more.

Through interdisciplinary applied research, academic excellence in a host of disciplines - including humanities, social sciences, and education - as well as close collaboration with industry and communities, Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee is tackling some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century, while positioning the Galilee as a global hub for innovation.

Journal

Quaternary Science Reviews

DOI

10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.110277

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Elephant dental remains from the Acheulian site at North Bridge Acheulian–Gesher Benot Ya'aqov: hominin behavior and environmental implications

Article Publication Date

15-Nov-2026

The research focuses on a giant elephant molar and tusk fragments discovered alongside Acheulian stone tools at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in northern Israel. The remains belonged to Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the straight-tusked elephant, one of the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene.

The elephant remains were discovered alongside basalt handaxes and cleavers, hallmark tools of the Acheulian tradition, one of the earliest and most widespread stone-tool technologies in human history.

A remarkably preserved elephant tooth previously recovered from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY-NBA) — a prehistoric site in northern Israel, where early humans made stone tools some 700,000 years ago — has now enabled researchers to reconstruct a lush landscape of woodlands, wetlands, and waterways from the Pleistocene. The findings provide a rare glimpse into the environment shared by giant elephants and some of the region's earliest human populations.

Rather than studying the elephant alone, researchers used the tooth as a biological archive to reconstruct the broader ecosystem shared by large mammals and early human toolmakers.

The remains belong to Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the straight-tusked elephant, one of the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene.

The research focuses on a giant elephant molar and tusk fragments discovered alongside Acheulian stone tools at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (Daughters of Jacob Bridge), located in the Jordan Rift Valley, south of today's Hula Valley in northern Israel.
Credit
Photos and illustrations courtesy of Tel-Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee and Hannah Farrell, University of Haifa

Some of those ancient sea predators were built for surprise attacks

Rutgers researcher links tail shape to different hunting styles among the giant marine reptiles known as mosasaurs

Rutgers University

Mosasaurus — image:
A mosasaur leaps from the water to snatch prey in this artist’s depiction. A Rutgers-led study suggests differences in the tails of these ancient marine reptiles helped shape their hunting strategies.
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Credit: Illustration by Henry Sharpe/Formoso Lab/Rutgers University

Some of the giant marine reptiles that ruled the seas during the age of dinosaurs were better built for surprise attacks, while their relatives were better suited to chasing prey through open water, according to a Rutgers-led study.

These animals, known as mosasaurs, were a group of lizards adapted to life in the ocean. Researchers reconstructed the bodies of four kinds of mosasaurs from their fossil skeletons, then applied principles of physics to estimate how quickly each could surge forward with a single powerful sweep of its tail.

The calculations suggest that a particularly large Tylosaurus, one kind of mosasaur, could have reached about 15 miles per hour with a single tail stroke. That estimate describes a brief burst, rather than the speed the animal could maintain. Although the exact speeds remain uncertain, the differences among the animals offer clues to how they hunted.

The research, published in Current Biology, was led by Kiersten Formoso, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

“At the same time dinosaurs likeT. rex were ruling the land, mosasaurs were ruling the seas,” Formoso said.

Understanding how these predators caught their meals, she said, helps scientists reconstruct how ancient ocean ecosystems worked.

Modern audiences may recognize mosasaurs from the Jurassic World films and the Apple TV series Prehistoric Planet. Formoso consulted on two seasons of the documentary series and early versions of this research helped inform its depictions of mosasaur movement.

Her scientific question began with a difference in the fossils. Two major branches of the mosasaur family tree had differently proportioned tails. Could those differences have affected how quickly the animals launched an attack?

Previous research had largely focused on cruising, a steady type of swimming in which an animal repeatedly beats its tail to move through the water. Formoso wanted to examine the sudden burst that could help a predator seize prey or a smaller animal escape being eaten.

The team modeled a movement it calls a “slam-start.” An animal curls its tail to one side, then forcefully sweeps it back, pushing against the water and driving its body forward.

Formoso compared that initial surge to a swimmer pushing off the wall of a pool.

“It’s the tail itself pushing off the water,” she said.

The nearly complete fossils provided detailed information about body size and tail shape. To reconstruct the missing tail muscles, the researchers drew on the anatomy of living lizards, including Komodo dragons.

The team tested a range of assumptions about muscle power, tail flexibility and resistance from the water to see whether the findings held up under different conditions.

Across the tested conditions, two species, Platecarpus and Tylosaurus, achieved faster lunges for their body size than Mosasaurus and Plotosaurus. Platecarpus was the fastest of the four.

The advantage came largely from a longer, flexible section of the tail that allowed Platecarpus and Tylosaurus to curl it farther before sweeping it back. How far the tail could curl had a much larger effect on the modeled speeds than all other conditions

Such an advantage would favor ambush hunting in shallowseas, the researchers said. Mosasaurus and especially Plotosaurus appear to have been better suited to pursuing prey in the open ocean.

“That doesn’t mean Plotosaurus was slow,” Formoso said. “Its tail was built for sustained, tuna-like swimming rather than sudden bursts.”

The findings agree with other clues to mosasaur lifestyles, including studies of bite force, tooth wear, and the chemical makeup of fossils.

The study also has a New Jersey connection: Alongside the four main reconstructions, the team modeled exceptionally large animals, including a Mosasaurus based on a fossil from New Jersey held by the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to put numbers on burst swimming performance in any marine reptile from the age of dinosaurs. They are making their tools freely and publicly available so other researchers can apply the approach to additional extinct swimmers, including animals with no close living equivalent.

Formoso’s broader research examines how animals with land-dwelling ancestors evolved to live in water. Her approach rests on a simple fact: The physical rules that govern swimming today also applied millions of years ago

"Physics is physics,” she said.

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.