Early Neolithic Hunters in Israel Likely Ate Small Carnivores

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—According to a Phys.org report, foxes, wildcats, and other small carnivores may have been consumed by early Neolithic hunters at the site of Ahihud, which is located in Israel’s western Galilee. Shirad Galmor of Tel Aviv University led a team that examined the remains recovered during salvage excavations of the site in 2012 and 2013, and identified the remains of red fox, wildcat, beech marten, Egyptian mongoose, and European badger. “The quantity of small carnivore remains (particularly foxes), together with the amount of cut marks identified on those remains, intrigued me enough to start researching it separately,” Galmor said. The researchers determined that more than 12% of the fox remains and 19% of the wildcat remains bore cut marks from skinning and butchering. Burn marks were also found on the bones, indicating that the animals were likely used for food, and not just for their fur. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Environmental Archaeology. To read about evidence that Neolithic people in the Levant hunted large predators, go to "Big Game Hunting."