Earlier this week, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of a tusk belonging to a prehistoric elephant species at Kibbutz Revadim in the Negev desert. Michael Horovitz reports:

The 2.5-meter-long [more than eight feet] remnant of the huge straight-tusked elephant—which is now extinct—was discovered by Eitan Mor, a biologist from Jerusalem, who organized a trip to the area out of curiosity about the elephants, according to an Israel Antiquities Authority statement.

Scientists believe the elephant species, which would tower over their present-day descendants, arrived on Israel’s coastal plain about 800,000 years ago and died out approximately half a million years ago. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), findings from elephants are rare and the fossil is “of great scientific interest.”

The IAA explained that past archaeological work at Revadim, where stone and flint tools and other fossilized remains have been discovered, revealed that humans had settled the area and hunted the elephants that roamed the region.

The discovery of the tusk leads to questions over its presence at Revadim, according to Ofer Marder of Ben-Gurion University and Ianir Milevski of the IAA’s Prehistoric Branch. “Is the tusk the remains of a hunted elephant, or was it collected by the local prehistoric inhabitants? Did the tusk have social or spiritual significance?” the academics asked.

After several weeks of passionate political conflict in Israel over judical reform, the tensions seem to be defused, or at least dialed down, for the time being. In light of this, and in anticipation of the Passover holiday soon upon us, Eric Cohen considers the way forward for both the Jewish state and the Jewish people. (Video, 8 minutes. A text is available at the link below.)