A team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem excavates at Hilazon Tachtit cave in northern Israel. Last year, they discovered the 12,000-year-old remains of a female shaman, who was buried with an unusual collection of artifacts, including 50 tortoise shells. (Courtesy Leore Grosman)
The shells of 50 Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoises. Parts of wild boars, cows, leopards, gazelles, and stone martens. The wingtip of a golden eagle. A severed human foot. And a set of tools. What can this startling collection of artifacts found last year in a cliffside cave in northern Israel mean? "I think this is the burial of a shaman," says Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Leore Grosman. "It's an interpretation, of course. They didn't leave a note telling me." For the past 13 years, Grosman has been poring over every artifact and speck of dirt recovered from Hilazon Tachtit cave. Now she is trying to understand the story surrounding the 12,000-year-old remains of a female shaman, the first ever discovered in the eastern Mediterranean.
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