Archaeologists found a giant tusk of an ancient elephant in Israel

During a joint excavation, researchers from Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University found the fossil of a long-extinct elephant with straight tusks 2.5 meters long.

This is reported by the Associated Press.

Israel Antiquities Authority historian Avi Levi, who led the dig, said it was "the largest complete fossil tusk ever found at a prehistoric site in Israel or the Middle East."

Scientists believe that the animal lived in the late Lower Paleolithic period, about 500 000 years ago. This was found out thanks to stone tools found nearby.

The tusk was found on a plain that runs parallel to the Mediterranean coast of Israel. But half a million years ago, when the ancient elephant died, the now arid area was probably a swamp or a shallow lake.

• Previously, archaeologists unearthed a 1,200-year-old luxury estate in the desert in southern Israel. This find gives modern people a unique insight into the life of wealthy residents of the Negev region in the 8th-9th centuries.