Despite the often oppressive heat, summer is the main season for archaeological excavations in Israel, and this summer got off to a hot start in more ways than one when three remarkable finds were reported at the end of June. Tenth-grade students volunteering on an Israel Antiquities Authority dig at a stalactite cave near Moshav Manot in the Western Galilee earlier in June discovered a 40,000-year-old grindstone that was apparently used to prepare food and tools. Excavation director Yoav Lerer of the IAA described the thrill sparked by the discovery: "One of the students came up to me and showed me the stone that had been found outside the cave. When we explained that it was an object that had been used by ancient man, there was a lot of excitement. It's a greeting from the people who lived here, right where the students live, 40,000 years ago." Lerer said that the grindstone was basalt, "which is created when lava erupts out of a volcano and is not indigenous to the Western Galilee area. It looks like [either] the raw material or the tool itself was brought here from the Lower Galilee by residents of the cave." The stalactite cave where the dig is underway was discovered in 2008, when heavy mechanical equipment employed in an infrastructure project broke through its ceiling. The IAA staff who arrived at the site found a large stalactite cave that contained finds that indicated that it had been inhabited by Paleolithic man. Since then, Dr. Omry Barzilai of the IAA; Dr. Ofer Marder of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; and Professor Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University have been overseeing continuous excavations at the site. The project receives assistance from the Dan David Fund, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Jewish National Fund and the Maaleh Yosef Regional Council. Elsewhere in northern Israel, University of Haifa archaeologists have unearthed a Roman gate at the Hippos-Sussita archaeological site east of the Sea of Galilee. The gate is expected to shed light on another recent find, a unique bronze mask of the Greek god Pan, which was discovered at the same site a year ago. Pan, who is represented as half human, half goat, is the Greek god of music. Because no comparable discoveries have been made, researchers found it difficult to date the mask. Dr. Michael Eisenberg, who is supervising the excavation, said that "now that the entire gate has been unearthed, we have more solid information [with which] to date the mask, as well as a hint of what it might have been used for." Archaeologists report that the gate originally stood over 6 meters (20 feet) high and the structure to which it belonged, which is higher, appears to date back to the days of Hadrian (117-138 C.E.) Meanwhile, at the other end of the country, a lifeguard out for a morning run at the Tel Ashkelon State Beach last week discovered something curious -- an ancient oil lamp. Meir Amshik said he noticed that part of the cliff face had crumbled and approached the rubble. "I saw the intriguing oil lamp lying there, intact. I thought it might be an ancient artifact, so I picked it up. Along with Avi Panzer, director of the lifeguard station, we contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority." It turned out that the artifact was indeed a small lamp that dates to the 12th century C.E. Guy Fitoussi, an inspector from the IAA's Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, noted, "The lifeguards from the Israel Parks and Nature Authority not only save people, they also save antiquities." According to Saar Ganor, an archaeologist for the IAA Southern District, "the oil lamp represents part of the cultural wealth of ancient Ashkelon, which was a city of commerce."
