Archaeometry: stone spheres with ancient artifacts found in the southern Levant
Israeli scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University have discovered the largest deposit of cave pearls in the southern Levant. Some of these sites contained human-made archaeological artifacts. The study was published in the scientific journal Archaeometry.
Cave pearls are balls of calcite that are formed by the slow crystallization of calcium carbonate on grains of sand or other small particles. As a result, spheres up to 30 centimeters wide are formed.
To create cave pearls, a number of conditions are necessary: the presence of saturated water, a flat cave floor with a shallow pond, the movement of water in the form of drops or a slow stream, and changes in the chemical composition of the soil over time.
The team found about 50 cave pearls in artificial tunnels designed to extract groundwater from the aquifer and bring it to the surface.
Scientists discovered in 14 of these formations shards of pottery and plaster dating back to ancient eras – from the Babylonian period of the 6th century BC to the Byzantine period of the 4th-6th centuries AD.
According to experts, the discovered cave pearls were the first natural formations in history with human objects inside.