Bombshell discovery of 9,000-year-old Neolithic ‘city’ near Jerusalem changes how we think about human evolution

A HUGE prehistoric city has been discovered near Jerusalem which archaeologists say gives new insight into how humans developed around the end of the Stone Age.

The 9,000-year-old Neolithic metropolis, uncovered during a survey before the construction of a new motorway, is one of the biggest ever found, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

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It is estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people lived there, which would be the equivalent of a big city by modern standards.

In the site has been found evidence of a complex society that made intricate jewellery and tools, planned its streets and stored food.

Animal bones found in the city showed that people were shifting away from hunting for survival to a more sedentary lifestyle that included farming.

It covered dozens of acres near what is today the town of Motza, some three miles west of Jerusalem.

Before the discovery, it was widely believed the entire area had been uninhabited in that period.

Jacob Vardi, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is co-director of the excavations at the site, said it was a “Big Bang” moment in archaeology, the

“It’s a game changer, a site that will drastically shift what we know about the Neolithic era,” he said.

“Instead of an uninhabited area from that period, we have found a complex site, where varied economic means of subsistence existed, and all this only several dozens of centimeters below the surface.”

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Lauren Davis, another archaeologist with the antiquities authority said: "This is most probably the largest excavation of this time period in the Middle East”.

She added that it will “allow the research to advance leaps and bounds ahead of where we are today, just by the amount of material that we are able to save and preserve from this site”.

The findings shed light on how these ancient people lived, what they ate and indicate that they had farmed in the area.

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The excavation exposed large buildings, alleyways and burial places, evidence of a relatively advanced level of planning, the antiquities authority said.

The team also found warehouses that contained large quantities of food particularly lentils, whose seeds were remarkably preserved throughout the millennia.

Also found were flint tools, including thousands of arrowheads, axes for chopping down trees, sickle blades and knives.

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