Carved cave turtle may have been worshipped 35,000 years before Christianity

The “cosmic turtle”, which holds countries, or even the entire world on its back, appears in creation myths across the globe.

Now, a mysterious turtle rock sculpture, discovered deep in a remote cave in Israel, suggests the worship of the creature may date back at least 35,000 years.

It was known that Manot Cave in Galilee was used for thousands of years by both Neanderthals and humans, but it was thought its inhabitants kept close to the cave mouth, where evidence of animal butchery and flint knapping had been found.

Now experts have discovered a large gallery in the deepest, darkest part of the cave, which may have been used as a gathering area for rituals.

At the heart of the cavern, placed prominently in a niche, was a three-dimensional turtle or tortoise shell sculpture, carved from a dolomite boulder, which appears to have been the focal point of the sacred room.

“It may have represented a totem or spiritual figure,” said Omry Barzilai, head of Material Culture PaleoLab at the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, who led the team.

“Its special location, far from the daily activities near the cave entrance, suggests that it was an object of worship.”

The deep part of the cave consists of a lofty chamber with a huge dome-like ceiling which provides natural acoustics favourable for large gatherings.

There is evidence of wood ash on nearby stalagmites suggesting prehistoric humans carried torches to light the chamber.

Linear micro-scratches within the grooves of the engraving indicated that it was carved by humans using sharp flint tools to resemble a turtle or tortoise shell.

The boulder weighs 4st 6lb (28kg), which experts said “rules out any chance occurrence” of it accidentally rolling into the cave through gravity. It aligns neatly against the wall with its uncarved side facing the wall.

Galilee is where the Bible says Jesus performed many miracles including walking on water, turning water into wine and feeding the 5,000. It is also where he gave the Sermon on the Mount.

But the new ritual chamber represents the earliest known evidence of religious behavior in the Levant – commonly referred to as the Holy Land.

The significance of the turtle sculpture is unknown but the turtles and tortoises crop up in religions and myths throughout Asia, Africa, North America and the Indian subcontinent, and are thought to represent longevity and strength.

Embodies the known universe

In Hindu mythology, the World Turtle, known as Akupara, Kurma or Kurmaraja, holds up mountains or else embodies the known universe.

Some 19th century western authors, such as John Locke, also claimed Hindus believed the world was held up by an elephant standing on a tortoise.

In Chinese mythology, the goddess Nuwa used the legs of a giant sea turtle to prop up the sky after the mountain supporting the heavens was damaged.

Zulu folklore holds that many countries of the world are held on a tortoise’s shell, while some native North Americans believed that eclipses happened when the “great turtle which holds up the Earth” changed position in the heavens.

The Western Caspian turtle and the spur-thighed tortoise were known to inhabit the Levant during the period that the cave was occupied. Their slowness made them easy prey and in some cases, their remains made up 30 per cent of the animal bones found at inhabited sites.

Tortoise remains commonly exhibit signs of cooking, butchery, and processing marks and their shells may have been used as containers. They have also been found at burial sites of suspected shamans suggesting they were important to the Levantine prehistoric people.

Manot Cave was discovered in 2008 by workers building flats in a mountain resort close to Israel’s border with Lebanon.

In 2015, researchers from Case Western Reserve, in Cleveland, Ohio, helped identify a 55,000-year-old skull that provided physical evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthal and homo sapiens, with characteristics of each clearly visible in the skull fragment.

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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