Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a cave used by pre-Neanderthal human-like creatures who lived as long as 400,000 years ago, making it one of only a handful of sites from the little-known period accessible to scientists.
Located on the outskirts of a town called Fureidis in northern Israel, the cave was due to be affected by construction work when archaeologists decided to investigate it.
Researchers in the 1970s originally thought the cave was used around 200,000 years ago, archaeologist Kobi Vardi of the Israel Antiquities Authority told CNN on Thursday.
However, Vardi and his colleague Ron Shimelmitz, an associate professor in archaeology at the University of Haifa, have now discovered that it was inhabited up to 400,000 years ago.
They determined this after finding flint tools, such as hand axes, scrapers and blades, that are characteristic of the Acheulo-Yabrudian culture of pre-Neanderthal hominins who lived in the area at the time.
