08/2026 New study demonstrates regular consumption of reptiles by Natufian foragers at el-Wad Terrace, Israel

A new paper in PNAS by Ma'ayan Lev, Mina Weinstein-Evron, and Reuven Yeshurun documents systematic snake and lizard exploitation by the Natufian inhabitants of the site of el-Wad Terrace (Mount Carmel) across roughly 15,000 to 11,700 cal BP. Cut marks on 82 large-snake vertebrae, concentrated in a consistent anatomical location across 20 stratified archaeological layers, show that squamates were butchered regularly throughout the site's occupation, not just opportunistically eaten when encountered. Three large-bodied taxa dominate the assemblage: the European glass lizard, the large whip snake, and the eastern Montpellier snake. Their exploitation tracked shifts in site occupation intensity rather than environmental change, linking reptile use to the emergence of sedentism in the terminal Pleistocene Levant.