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Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
Jun 03, 2020...
A revolutionary radiocarbon-dating technique can now securely pinpoint when monumental structures in Jerusalem’s Old City — including the famed Wilson’s Arch — were constructed.
By meticulously collecting organic material in each excavated stratified layer and carbon-dating minuscule samples taken from ancient mortar, an interdisciplinary team from the Weizmann Institute and the Israel Antiquities Authority can now lay to rest abiding debates on when ancient Jerusalem structures were constructed. For a change, scientists are stepping out of the laboratory and into the field.
Oct 05, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 5, 2020—Our ancestors not only knew how to use fire, they also developed sophisticated technologies for making tools. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science recently employed cutting-edge technologies of their own to take a fresh look at a collection of stone tools. Their results suggest that the early humans who made the tools may have had a good understanding of the effects of heating the stone before flaking it into blades, and may even have used different temperatures to create different types of tools. The findings of this research were published in Nature Human Behaviour.
Sep 30, 2020...
Modern-day sukkah builders may find it interesting that recently created 3D scans of ancient pottery could reveal the original dimensions of the tefah, a unit of biblical measurement based on the dimensions of a male hand.
The tefah was used primarily by ancient Israelites. It appears frequently in the Bible and is the basis for many Jewish laws. It is an especially important measurement at this time of year, as it is used by observant Jews to calculate the precise dimensions according to Jewish law for building a sukkah, the outdoor structure where the holiday of Sukkot, which begins on Friday, is celebrated.
Oct 05, 2020...
Use of controlled fire was probably the most defining moment in the evolution of early humans. It was not just a mere technological advancement but was the starting point of everything we associate humans with—migration, civilisation, culture or language. But, when did we start controlling the fire? We may be getting closer to finding a definitive answer.
A new study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, shows that human ancestors in the Levantine region—countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores—used fire at controlled temperatures to make tools around 300,000 years ago. Using the cutting edge technologies like the Raman spectroscopy and AI modelling, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University in Israel found that early humans had a good understanding of the effects of heating the stone before flaking it into blades.
Jan 13, 2021...
When the volcano on the Mediterranean island of Santorini erupted over three thousand years ago – give or take a few hundred – it spewed lava, rocks and ash over a huge region. The ash from that eruption is so prevalent in the archaeological record that it is used to date the strata above and below.
But few agree on the chronological date of the eruption itself. That is why a single olive branch discovered in the ashes on Santorini has become the center of a recent controversy between archaeologists and chronologists.
Jun 14, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 14, 2021—The Boker Tachtit archaeological excavation site in Israel’s central Negev desert holds clues to one of the most significant events in human history: the spread of modern humans, Homo sapiens, from Africa into Eurasia, and the subsequent demise of Neanderthal populations in the region. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Max Planck Society, led by Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto, together with Dr. Omry Barzilai of the Israel Antiquities Authority, returned to Boker Tachtit nearly 40 years after it was first excavated. Using advanced sampling and dating methods, they offer a new chronological framework for this important chapter in our anthropological evolution. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were far from strangers.
Jun 21, 2021...
Around 50,000 years ago, a group of Neanderthals was living in the Negev Desert, near today’s town of Ofakim. No bones remain because the high concentration of gypsum in the soil decomposes the bones, but the stone tool set found there is typical of Neanderthals.
At about the same time, a wave of migration by anatomically modern humans reached a site known as Boker Tachtit, by Kibbutz Sde Boker, as reported in Haaretz. Their bones have also long since turned into dust, but the tools there – defined as Initial Upper Paleolithic tool culture – are typical of Homo sapiens, the archaeologists say. Boker Tachtit appears to have been a sort of waystation for great migration waves of modern humanity out of Africa to Eurasia via the land that is today Israel.
Jun 13, 2022... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—June 13, 2022—They say that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and Weizmann Institute of Science researchers are working hard to investigate that claim, or at least elucidate what constitutes “smoke.” In an article published today in PNAS, the scientists reveal an advanced, innovative method that they have developed and used to detect nonvisual traces of fire dating back at least 800,000 years – one of the earliest known pieces of evidence for the use of fire. The newly developed technique may provide a push toward a more scientific, data-driven type of archaeology, but – perhaps more importantly – it could help us better understand the origins of the human story, our most basic traditions, and our experimental and innovative nature.
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