Stone Age skeletons found in well a mystery to Israeli archaeologists

Israeli archaeologists are scratching their heads after unearthing two skeletons of over 8, 000 years old at the bottom of an ancient water well.

The mystery widened when researchers found that remains belong to a young woman of 20-year-old and an older man between 30 and 40. Archaeologists believe that either both of them accidentally fell into the well or were murdered and then dumped inside.

"We're still investigating what happened to the couple, we have to do an autopsy to find out if they were murdered and also look into the artifacts and rocks found over them," excavation director Yotam Teper told Xinhua Thursday.

The well is eight-meter deep and was used by farmers during the Neolithic period to bring water to the settlement. The numerous artifacts that have been excavated so far from the well indicate that the well ended up being used as a dump after it became polluted.

Among these finds are a pair of sickle blades used for harvesting as well as arrow heads and other stone artifacts that are helping researchers shed light on how Neolithic farming settlements lived.

"We found a small water channel used to bring water from the well to the small farms around it. We're still excavating the area, but so far, what we have found will help us understand more about this period," Teper said. "There's only two more wells from the Neolithic that have been unearthed so far in Israel, and not that many in the world, so this find is of great significance."

The well was discovered in September at the archaeological site of Enot Nisanit, by archaeologists who were excavating in the Jezreel Valley.

"The exposure of these wells makes an important contribution to the study of man's culture and economy in a period when pottery vessels and metallic objects had still not yet been invented," Dr. Omri Barzilai, head of the Prehistory Branch of the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

"It seems that ancient man tried to devise ways of protecting his drinking water from potential contamination by the animals he raised, and therefore he enclosed the water in places that were not accessible to them," Barzilai said.

The Israel Antiquities Authority will preserve the well and exhibit it as part of the sites around Tel Megiddo in the different periods.