Detected 5,000-year-old newspaper hunting traps

Traps designed by the ancient humans for hunting newspapers as well as other predators in Israel and throughout the Middle East dates back 5,000 years.

Archaeologists excavate a 5,000-year-old newspaper hunting trap in the Negev desert, Israel. The trap was originally thought to be only a few hundred years old, similar to the kind of trap still used in the last century and discovered the same other trap dating back to 1,600 years.

The findings suggest that the technique used to hunt carnivores has been around since humans have tamed goats and sheep here, Livescience said.

A flower leopard.(Photo: Mingingthing)

"The most interesting thing is the antiquity of predator traps, which is absolutely unexpected for us , " said Naomi Porat, a geological surveyer in Israel. "There are at least 50 simple traps scattered throughout the Negev desert and they don't stand out in the landscape here, they look like a pile of stones, a normal pyramid stone".

In order to set up a trap, the ancient person attaches a piece of delicious meat to the end of the rope that attracts leopards or other predators. When the predator pulls the bait, the rope attached to the stone door leaves the trap closed, which is trapped in it.

Many researchers believe that the traps are quite modern, but Porat's colleagues are curious about their origins and ask her to analyze the traps.

Porat uses optical dating methods to measure the amount of radiation absorbed from the environment in two alarm traps, by comparing with the background level of radiation in the area that changes very little for millennia, the team has can determine when a trap is created.

One of the two traps dating back 5,000 years, the remaining 1,600 years, this shows that this technology has been used thousands of years ago for hunting for newspapers, other predators such as foxes and wolves. , hyena, lynx, long-eared cats are popular throughout the Middle East.

"These ancient traps are used by shepherds and goats to ensure the safety of cattle to avoid predators , " Porat said.

Today, leopards are no longer a threat. Humans hunt and destroy their life fields, causing them to disappear in the Negev about 10 years ago.