In the darkest recesses of Manot Cave, far from sunlight and the echoes of everyday life, early humans gathered for reasons that still tantalize the modern mind. Here, eight stories below the cave’s entrance, a carved rock — its surface etched to resemble a turtle — stood as a silent witness to rituals performed 35,000 years ago. This discovery in a cave in northern Israel may be the earliest evidence of ritual gatherings in Southwest Asia.

Manot Cave, first unearthed by accident in 2008 during condominium construction near the Israel-Lebanon border, has been a treasure trove for anthropologists. Its rediscovered chambers now hold clues not just about how early humans lived, but how they may have thought and worshiped.

A Place Apart

Omry Barzilai, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, led the recent investigation. His team’s findings paint a picture of a society that did more than survive. They gathered. They worshiped. They created symbols that transcended daily existence.

The cave’s inhabitants — early Homo sapiens and possibly the last Neanderthals — seemed to favor the entrance for living quarters. There, archaeologists found evidence that the ancient inhabitants crafted tools, butchered animals, and cooked meals. But deep inside, they left a different kind of mark. In a secluded chamber filled with natural formations, a carved boulder sits deliberately placed in a niche. Its turtle-shell design was etched between 35,000 and 37,000 years ago.

“It may have represented a totem or spiritual figure,” Barzilai explained. “Its special location, far from the daily activities near the cave entrance, suggests that it was an object of worship.”

Researchers found no evidence of long-term fire use in the cave. Instead, soot residues on stalagmites suggested that people carried torches or set up temporary hearths to light this hidden space.

A Silent Witness to Ritual

The carved boulder, often referred to as “turtle rock,” may seem simple, but its careful placement and the surrounding evidence hint at a deep symbolic meaning. The cavern’s size and natural acoustics suggest it could comfortably hold groups of people — perhaps early congregations bound by ritual.

The placement of the turtle rock recalls other ancient cave discoveries. In France, 20,000-year-old paintings in the Lascaux caves depict animals with lifelike grace. In Spain’s Maltravieso cave, 64,000-year-old handprints — likely left by Neanderthals — suggest symbolic behavior far older than previously believed.

Manot Cave, however, tells a story unique to its region. Its discovery in the Galilean hills adds to the growing understanding that early humans in the Levant weren’t merely migrating through; they were shaping cultures, exchanging ideas, and possibly blending traditions with Neanderthals.

Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil record around 40,000 years ago, but evidence shows they didn’t vanish entirely. Their genes live on in modern humans, the remnant of a period of overlap, interaction, and interbreeding. In 2015, a 55,000-year-old skull fragment from Manot Cave provided some of the clearest evidence of this mixing. Researchers noted features characteristic of both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

Science in Unexpected Places

The excavation of Manot Cave has also been a story of scientific collaboration from unexpected quarters. Dental students from Case Western Reserve University’s School of Dental Medicine assisted in identifying bones — a skill that turned out to be surprisingly useful in an archaeological dig.

“Most people would not suspect that a dental school would be involved in an archaeological excavation,” said Mark Hans, chair of orthodontics at the school. “But one of the things that are preserved very well in ancient skeletons are teeth because they are harder than bone.”

Their work on these human remains helped unravel the timeline of the cave’s occupation and the context of the ritual site. But overall, the findings from Manot Cave add a new dimension to the story of early human culture. The rituals hinted at by the turtle rock remind us that surviving in prehistory wasn’t just about food and shelter. It was also about connection, meaning, and perhaps even spirituality.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.