Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Porcupine archaeology

EXCAVATION: Porcupine unearths 1,400 year old oil lamp at archaeological site in Emek Hefer (Jerusalem Post).
Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered a 1,400 year-old ceramic oil lamp with the help of an unlikely aide – a porcupine.

Last week, during a routine patrol at the Horbat Siv ancient ruins – a Roman-Byzantine site near Emek Hefer in central Israel, anti-antiquities theft inspectors found the oil lamp on top of a pile of dirt that a porcupine had unearthed while digging a burrow.

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