{"id":137110,"date":"2026-08-25T11:27:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.haifa.ac.il\/?p=137110"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:27:43","slug":"natufians-in-the-carmel-region-regularly-ate-snakes-and-lizards-for-3000-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.haifa.ac.il\/en\/2026\/08\/25\/natufians-in-the-carmel-region-regularly-ate-snakes-and-lizards-for-3000-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Natufians in the Carmel Region Regularly Ate Snakes and Lizards for 3,000 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The study, published in the journal PNAS, identified cut marks on the vertebrae of large snakes, indicating that they were prepared as food, and found that reptile consumption was higher during periods of more permanent and intensive settlement at the site.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new study conducted at the University of Haifa and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)<\/a> has found that members of the Natufian culture who lived in the Carmel region approximately 15,000 years ago systematically ate snakes and lizards over roughly 3,000 years. The researchers found that reptile consumption was higher during periods when habitation at the site was more permanent and intensive, as they abandoned the nomadic way of life. \u201cThe transition to permanent settlement involved prolonged reliance on food resources in the immediate surroundings. Snakes and lizards were exploited for thousands of years, showing that they were not a marginal or incidental food source, but rather part of a subsistence strategy adapted to extended periods of life in a single location,\u201d said Dr. Maayan Lev of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa and the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology at the Kiel University in Germany, who led the study.<\/p>\n

Approximately 15,000 years ago, communities of hunter-gatherers in the Levant gradually began to shift from a nomadic way of life to a more settled one. The Natufians reduced their wanderings, established residential structures, and exploited a wider range of food resources in their surroundings. This period is considered an important stage in the history of human settlement, even before the development of agriculture. At the same time, long-term reliance on resources available in the immediate surroundings involved the exploitation of a wider range of food sources. In the present study, Dr. Lev, Prof. Mina Weinstein-Evron, and Prof. Reuven Yeshurun of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures and the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa sought to determine whether snakes and lizards formed part of the Natufians\u2019 diet over thousands of years of habitation, which species were exploited as food, and whether changes in their consumption were related to the degree of permanence and intensity of life at the site. The study was conducted as part of a project led by Prof. Yeshurun and funded by the Israel Science Foundation on the earliest permanent settlement in human history.<\/p>\n

The researchers analyzed and documented thousands of reptile bones collected during excavations from twenty archaeological layers in el-Wad Terrace in the Nahal Me\u2019arot Nature Reserve in the Carmel, which is managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The layers document Natufian settlement at the site between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. Using microscopic examination of the bones, the researchers examined cut marks, burning, digestion, and trampling marks in order to distinguish between reptiles that were used as food by the site\u2019s inhabitants and those that were preyed upon by animals or died naturally at the site. In addition, the researchers compared the different stages of settlement, examined whether there had been changes in environmental conditions, and compared the reptile finds from the site with finds from Natufian sites and earlier sites in the region. To determine why certain species were selected as food, the researchers also assessed the feasibility of capturing each species according to body size, speed and agility, the risk involved in capturing it, its accessibility, and its hours of activity.<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s findings identified cut marks on 82 vertebrae of large snakes, in the same location on the vertebrae, providing direct evidence that the snakes were systematically prepared as food by humans, with several cut marks found on some of the vertebrae, indicating repeated cutting. Numerous remains of snakes and lizards were found in all twenty archaeological layers examined, indicating that reptile consumption continued throughout thousands of years of settlement at the site. Three large species were the most common among the reptile remains found at the site: the European glass lizard, the large whip snake, and the eastern Montpellier snake. The proportion of reptiles that were apparently used as food was higher during periods when habitation at the site was more permanent and intensive, and declined during periods when habitation at the site was shorter and more seasonal. The study also found that over time the Natufians focused on species that offered a relatively good balance between the amount of food that could be obtained from them and the effort and risk involved in capturing them. The European glass lizard, for example, was large, relatively slow, and nonvenomous, whereas the viper, which was more dangerous to capture, appeared in smaller numbers. \u201cThe study shows us for the first time that at the beginning of permanent settlement, snakes and lizards were a stable and reliable source of food for ancient humans. The fact that they repeatedly selected the same species indicates that the Natufians did not eat every reptile they happened to encounter, but instead practiced selective hunting over thousands of years. This underscores their deep familiarity with the animals and with the resources offered by their environment,\u201d the researchers concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study, published in the journal PNAS, identified cut marks on the vertebrae of large snakes, indicating that they were prepared as food, and found that reptile consumption was higher during periods of more permanent and intensive settlement at the site<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":137056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jet_sm_ready_style":"","_jet_sm_style":"","_jet_sm_controls_values":"","_jet_sm_fonts_collection":"","_jet_sm_fonts_links":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[999],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNatufians in the Carmel Region Regularly Ate Snakes and Lizards for 3,000 Years - 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