Tag: Social Sciences

Breaking Glass Ceilings

Tel Aviv University alumna, Israela Tadela Baruch, launches project to empower Israeli women of Ethiopian descent.

“We are here to reach the forums where significant decisions are made that affect our daily lives and those of our children.”

This is an excerpt from a Facebook post from November 2nd 2022 that launched the “Tzahai” project (“light beam” in Amharic), initiated by Israela Tadela Baruch, an MA graduate in Public Policy at Tel Aviv University’s Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, who also has experience in communications and from the social sector. 

A New Direction

“As a mother of a toddler and with another one on the way, and after seven years of working in the field of communication, I encountered adversity where I least expected them: from women at a managerial level. That made me realize that if I want to succeed, I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. I decided to take an independent path and pursue my passion for meaningful public engagement in a field close to my heart.”

 

 “I wanted a new direction – for us to be able to connect, not as women seeking help, but from a place of strength and power.”  Israela Tadela Baruch

 

Israela took part in an accelerator for social entrepreneurship through the World Zionist Organization and won an ‘outstanding enterprise’ grant. “I wanted to create a program to develop leadership skills among women from the Ethiopian community,” she explains. “That would equip them with the tools they need in order to enter Israeli politics and contribute to decision making. To add more nuance to Israel’s political landscape. I know women who have what it takes to execute public action, be it on local or national level.”

A group photo from the Tzahai group’s second meeting, where the women engaged in a fascinating discussion about politics, regime and social boundaries with political science expert, Dr. Hani Zubida (photo: from Tzahai’s Facebook page)

Israela mapped out all the existing organizations for Ethiopian women and found that they all dealt in the field of welfare. “I wanted a new direction – for us to be able to connect, not as women seeking help, but from a place of strength and power.”

Breaking Glass Ceilings

Prof. Itai Sened, the Dean of TAU’s Faculty of Social Sciences recognized the potential of Israela’s project, and encouraged her. She used connections she made in previous workplaces and managed to form a very diverse group, which included women at different stages of their professional lives from all over Israel.

Practically all of the women she gathered were full-time working mothers. They still found time to meet once every two weeks for Israela’s leadership program.

 

Women attending the program (photo: from Tzahai’s Facebook page)

“I wanted the women to meet a wide variety of influential and inspiring individuals, both women and men. This could help them expand their public activities and enable them to create impactful women’s networks of their own – and new social initiatives for the [Ethiopian] community. It was important for me to equip them with skills such as building arguments and public speaking. “

The program covered a wide array of topics: politics and gender; ethnicity; economic status; feminism; introduction to local government and social networks. The list also included a storytelling workshop and meetings with Ethiopians from Israeli media.

Soon the group will be heading to the Knesset, where they will meet with Pnina Tamano-Shata, another graduate from TAU’s Department of Public Policy, the Chair of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality.

 

“When my own two girls grow up, I would like female integration into political and social life to be a given. Today, for women in general and Ethiopian women in Israel in particular, it is hard to aspire to become politicians. I would like to change that.”  Israela Tadela Baruch

 

A Beam of Light

14 women participated in the first instalment, which took place in the University’s Social Sciences’ Naftali building. “We chose to call this program Tzahai, or ‘Beam of Light’ in Amharic,” says Israela. “When my own two girls grow up, I would like female integration into political and social life to be a given. Today, for women in general and Ethiopian women in Israel in particular, it is hard to aspire to become politicians. I would like to change that.”  

The second instalment of the Tzahai program will begin in October 2023. “There is no doubt that all the elections in the last five years and the lack of a stable government have resulted in some women realizing that they should be at the forefront. I can proudly say that a number of women from the pilot plan to run for local elections in 2023, using the skillset and network they’ve acquired,” says Israela.

She says that the education she received at Tel Aviv University contributed a lot to the project: “I participated in Dr. Yossi Boles’ elective course ‘Social Entrepreneurs in the Public Sector’, where I learned valuable insights. I also met women from different fields of interest who broadened my horizons. The icing on the cake is Prof. Itai Sened who supported, accompanied, advised – and most importantly believed in me.”

Israela’s message to social entrepreneurs who want to realize their ideas: “Don’t hesitate, believe in your idea, and do not wait for the right time to realize your dreams because that time is already yesterday.

 

“We are here to reach the forums where significant decisions are made that affect our daily lives and those of our children.” (photo: from Tzahai’s Facebook page)

Want to learn more?

Email: Tzahai22@gmail.com

Follow the group on Facebook

Five Tel Aviv University Researchers Win Prestigious ERC Grants

The purpose of the grant is to enable researchers to fulfill their research goals, build research teams and promote fruitful collaborations.

The European Research Council (ERC) recently announced the winners of its 2022 call for research grants for mid-career researchers, and Tel Aviv University won five of these grants. The highly coveted grants enable promising researchers to achieve their research goals, promote fruitful collaborations and build competent research teams. 

From Across TAU Campus

“We are very proud of our researchers, and happy about their success. It is exciting to see that Israel in general, and Tel Aviv University in particular, continue to be at the forefront of global science. I am especially happy and excited to see a growing representation of researchers from the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences,” says Prof. Dan Peer, Tel Aviv University’s Vice President for Research and Development and Head of the Laboratory for Nanomedicine.

The following researchers were awarded ERC grants for their groundbreaking research:

Prof. Yemini researches the interactions between local and global processes in the education system. She explores how young people from different backgrounds in different countries understand and apply global citizenship.

Prof. Schonberg heads the Minerva Center for Human Intelligence in Immersive, Augmented and Mixed Realities and the TAU XR Center. In his laboratory, he investigates mental functions and the neural basis of human decision-making processes. For this purpose, he uses MRI methods, eye movement tracking, various physiological indices, and methods from the computational learning field. He also investigates human decision-making through the construction of virtual reality environments that enable full functionality and are monitored at the highest possible level.

Prof. Limor Landsman from the Cell and Developmental Biology Department researches the function of beta cells, cells that regulate insulin production, crucial for blood sugar control and for the prevention of diabetes. Her team studies how beta-cell function and mass are established and maintained in healthy individuals and why they are lost in instances of diabetes. To this end, they research the crosstalk between beta-cells andother cells in their microenvironment. 

Dr. Weiss is a cultural anthropologist who studies how people navigate moral dilemmas they encounter in their daily lives. She also researches liberalism and its alternatives, especially in the contexts of religious and ethnic coexistence. Through her research, Dr. Weiss explores how different groups in the world find ways to overcome differences and bridge the gaps between them.

Hila Shamir, a Professor of Law at Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law, teaches and researches Employment, Labor, Immigration, and Welfare Law with a focus on issues of human trafficking, gender equality, informal work, and the law of global value chains. Prof. Shamir is a second time ERC grant winner. As part of her first ERC grant, she established the research group TraffLab: Labor Perspective to Human Trafficking. 

In her current research, Shamir examines efforts to promote workers’ rights in global supply and production chains. Her groundbreaking research looks towards various efforts to strengthen the collective power of workers in different parts of the world, to learn how a collective labor law can be developed to counterbalance to the growing power of corporations in the global economy.

Featured image: Winners of the ERC grant for 2023 (from left to right): Prof. Tom Schonberg, Prof. Limor Landsman, Prof. Miri Yemini, Prof. Hila Shamir and Dr. Erica Weiss 

Do You Have a Rightist or a Leftist Brain?

Political orientation can be predicted by measuring brain activation while watching campaign-ads.

A first-of-its-kind study scanned the brains of dozens of politically involved participants while they watched campaign-ads and speeches by parties from both ends of the political spectrum, just before one of the last rounds of elections. The participants, half right-wing and half left-wing, were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a method that measures brain activation. Surprisingly, political-dependent differences in the brain response emerged already in early brain regions, such as regions involved in vision and hearing, and in fact the response in these regions was enough to predict an individual’s political views.

Great Minds Think Alike

The study was led by Noa Katabi, a research student in the lab of Dr. Yaara Yeshurun in The School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

During the study, participants watched video-clips, including a neutral (in terms of political characteristics) video-clip and different political campaign-ads and political speeches by politicians from both blocs, Right and Left. The researchers were surprised to discover widespread partisanship-dependent brain activation and synchronization when Right-wing individuals watched the videos of their political bloc, or when Left-wing individuals watched the videos of left-wing politician.

Interestingly, the researchers found that such partisanship-dependent differences in brain synchronization was not limited to “higher” areas of the brain, associated with interpretation and abstract thinking, as was previously found. Rather, these differences occurred already in regions responsible for sight, hearing and even touch.

 

“This is the first study to show political-dependent brain activity in early sensory and motor areas, and it can be said that at the most basic brain level, rightists and leftists in Israel literally (and not just metaphorically) don’t see and hear the same things.” Dr. Yaara Yeshurun

 

Dr. Yaara Yeshurun

Rightists and Leftists Experience Things Differently

“The research clearly showed that the more the subjects were politically aligned with a certain group, the more their brain response was synchronized, including in motor and somatosensory areas, that is, those areas of the brain that are active when we move or feel things with our senses,” explains Dr. Yeshurun. “In fact, just by the brain’s response in these primary sensory areas we could tell if a certain individual was left or wight wing. Intriguingly, it was not necessary to examine the activity in ‘higher’ brain areas – areas that are involved in understanding why a certain character did something, or what that character thinks and feels – to predict participants’ political views, it could even be done by examining an area of the brain that is responsible for seeing or hearing.”

The researchers think that this surprising finding is due to the fact that the participants they chose were politically involved, and also due to the timing of the experiment – a few weeks before the elections, when the political atmosphere in Israel was very present and emotional.

“This is the first study to show political-dependent brain activity in early sensory and motor areas, and it can be said that at the most basic brain level, rightists and leftists in Israel literally (and not just metaphorically) don’t see and hear the same things. I think that if we try to understand how people who hold opposite political views to ours experience the world, we might be able to conduct a slightly more effective public discussion that can hopefully attenuate the current political polarization,” adds Dr. Yeshurun.

 

Right or left? “If we try to understand how people who hold opposite political views to ours experience the world, we might be able to conduct a slightly more effective public discussion (…)”

New Exhibition at the Wiener Library Features “Jews out!” – a Children’s Board Game from Nazi Germany

Players need to quickly collect six ‘Jew hats’ from Jewish areas in the city, and bring them to one of the roundup spots.

On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a new exhibition at the Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust at Tel Aviv University features the appalling children’s board game “Jews out!” (Juden Raus!), manufactured in Nazi Germany by an obscure company called Guenther and Co. at the end of 1938, probably following the events of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom).

 

“‘Jews Out!’ is clearly the outcome of years of blatant incitement and antisemitism which prevailed in German society in the 1930’s – so much so that someone got the idea that driving out the Jews was a suitable theme for a children’s game.” Prof. Emeritus José Brunner

 

Game With an Evil Twist

Prof. Emeritus José Brunner, the Academic Director, and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Wiener Library, explains that the game resembles an innocuous game that at the time was popular in Germany, but with an evil twist: Players are tasked with quickly collecting six ‘Jew hats’ from Jewish residential and commercial areas in the city, and bringing them to one of the roundup spots. The first player to do so wins the game.

One of the captions on the board reads: “Go to Palestine!” (Auf nach Palästina!).

“‘Jews Out!’ is clearly the outcome of years of blatant incitement and antisemitism which prevailed in German society in the 1930’s – so much so that someone got the idea that driving out the Jews was a suitable theme for a children’s game,” notes Prof. Brunner.

“However, the game was considered an exception even at the time. Most children played games that taught them the story of the Nazi party, when it was established and how it had developed, while this game expressly teaches children to deport Jews,” he says, and explains that while some facts concerning the game’s history are in dispute, we know that it was distributed by a food merchant named Rudolf Fabricius.

WATCH: The appalling children’s board game “Jews out!” from Nazi Germany

 

“In the 1930’s children in German schools and preschools, who received their education from the Nazi party, played many games that encouraged them to identify with the party’s institutions.” Prof. Dina Porat

 

German Children’s Education in the 1930s

Prof. Dina Porat from the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University adds: “In the 1930’s children in German schools and preschools, who received their education from the Nazi party, played many games that encouraged them to identify with the party’s institutions.”

“The game on display at the exhibition should be seen in the overall context of study materials in Nazi schools and preschools, such as a special edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for children, or the scary children’s book Poisonous Mushroom. During WWII and the Holocaust, those who had received such an education from an early age could be clearly distinguished from older generations educated in a different Germany.”

 

The appalling children’s board game “Jews out!” (Juden Raus!)

‘Cleansing’ Germany of Jews – No ‘Game of Chance’

And yet, Prof. Brunner adds that though the game is clearly antisemitic, and even uses the Nazi slogan ‘Jews out!’, it was not well-received by the Nazi establishment.

An article published on December 29, 1938, in the SS weekly Das Schwarze Korps severely criticized the game, claiming that it was disrespectful to the German policy of cleansing Germany of Jews, because it presented systematic hard work as a game of chance, while in fact the cleansing was a methodical, thoroughly considered plan.

Nor was the game welcomed by the German public – the sales were evidently quite low. Despite the game was an economic failure, it nevertheless goes to support the idea that where racial hatred reigns, there will be entrepreneurs who will try to profit from it. 

Tel Aviv University received the game in the 1970s together with the entire Wiener archive from London, containing tens of thousands of documents from the Nazi period. The game immediately caught the attention of the Library’s directors, and over the years it was displayed from time to time to the Library’s visitors, mostly academic researchers. To their knowledge, the game displayed at the Wiener Library is one of very few remaining originals.

The Library’s collection also includes the SS weekly Das Schwarze Korps where the criticism of the game was published.

The Wiener Library team (from left to right): Dr. Laure-Line Yehuda, Prof. José Brunner and Michal Fisher

Common Medications May Reduce Risk of Metastases after Colon and Rectal Cancer

Existing drugs to prevent anxiety, stress reactions and inflammation reduced the risk of the spread of cancer metastases after surgery to remove a colon tumor by tens of percent.

Although surgery to remove primary tumors is the mainstay of all cancer treatments, the risk of metastases after tumor removal is estimated at 35% among colon cancer patients, with higher risk in patients with more advance stages of the disease. However, a short, simple, and safe drug treatment developed at Tel Aviv University reduced the risk of the spread of cancer metastases after surgery to remove the primary tumor – according to the first clinical study of its kind conducted among 34 colon cancer patients operated on at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center.

The research was led by Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu of TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and School of Psychological Sciences at the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences and Prof. Oded Zamora of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and its results were published in the European Journal of Surgical Oncology. At the same time, an overview of the theory and principles underlying the research was published in Nature Review Cancer.

“The stress during the waiting period for surgery, the stress and inflammation reactions that the body produces during the surgery itself and the physical recovery period, and finally the following anxiety of cancer recurring – all have an adverse effect on the body’s ability to fight metastatic processes,” explains Prof. Ben-Eliyahu. “These mental and physiological conditions create stress-inflammatory responses, which cause ample release of hormones from the prostaglandin and catecholamine families. These hormones suppress anti-metastatic immune activity, and thus encourage the development of metastases.”

“In addition, these hormones directly help the cancer cells that remain in the body even after surgery: due to exposure to these hormones, the cancerous tissue becomes more aggressive and metastatic. The good news is that we know how to treat both stress and inflammation using off-the-shelf medications.”

 

“This is a short, cheap drug treatment with no significant side effects. We deliberately sought the safest and cheapest drugs capable of lowering the body’s stress-inflammatory response to surgery, in order to save lives.” Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu

 

Significant and Encouraging Results

The researchers from Tel Aviv University gave 34 colon cancer patients two safe drugs that are available in every pharmacy: propranolol (Darlin), used to lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety, and etodolac (Etopan), used to prevent pain and inflammation.

Sixteen randomly chosen patients took the medication for 20 days – from five days before to two weeks after surgery at the Sheba Medical Center. The other 18 patients received placebo drugs (control group). Five years later, nine of the 18 patients who received the placebo (50%) developed cancer metastases, compared to two of the 16 patients who took Darlin and Etofen (12.5%).

“Although at five years after the operation, the statistical significance is clear, we need to conduct larger clinical studies,” says Prof. Ben-Eliyahu. “Our treatment reduced markers of metastasis in the tumor tissue and reduced the chances of cancer recurrence. This is a short, cheap drug treatment with no significant side effects. We deliberately sought the safest and cheapest drugs capable of lowering the body’s stress-inflammatory response to surgery, in order to save lives.”

“It sounds too good to be true, but similar results in breast cancer tissue were obtained in a study we conducted in 2017. Due to the small number of subjects in both studies, it is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of the beneficial effect, but the effects are statistically significant, meaning that they are not accidental.”

 

“We seek to save lives without financial gain, and we have received financial support from several Israeli and international sources, but these are insufficient for large clinical studies.” Prof. Shamgar  Ben-Eliyahu

 

Saving Lives Without Financial Gain

According to Prof. Ben-Eliyahu, part of the medical establishment distrusts the effects of stress-inflammatory reactions, particularly those resulting from psychological factors such as waiting for surgery or fear of the disease spreading. Another problem concerns the financing of clinical studies.

“One should bear in mind that the pharmaceutical companies have no financial incentive to support such studies. Our medicines are not patented; they are safe, cheap, and administered in a short treatment lasting just a few days. The drug companies look for patents on expensive drugs and prefer that the patient be dependent on the drug for the rest of their life.”

“Unfortunately, the major science foundations in Israel do not fund clinical research on drugs, assuming that the drug companies will fund them. We seek to save lives without financial gain, and we have received financial support from several Israeli and international sources, but these are insufficient for large clinical studies. I hope that funding will be found for a large-scale clinical study that we have now embarked on, with the intention of recruiting hundreds of colon and rectal cancer patients in Israel, because without such research – we will not be able to convince the medical establishment of the treatment’s effectiveness.”

Surprising the Pope with The Artwork ‘Jesus from the Soil of the Holy Land’

Prof. Dina Porat: “The Pope was moved by the gesture. He thanked me wholeheartedly and said that it was a very special gift.”

Prof. Dina Porat from Tel Aviv University recently surprised Pope Francis when she handed him the artwork ‘Jesus from the Soil of the Holy Land’ while in Rome. The Pope thanked Prof. Porat wholeheartedly for the “very special gift”.

 

“Nilly sent me a photo of the unusual composition and asked, half-jokingly, if perhaps I could meet the Pope and bring him a very special gift from the soil of the Holy Land.” Prof. Dina Porat.

 

From the fields of Israel to the Vatican

‘Jesus from the Soil of the Holy Land’ was conceived, almost accidentally, by artist Nilly Shachor from Sde Warburg, a moshav in central Israel.

One day, as she was walking in the fields near her home, Shachor tripped and fell. When she got up, she saw that she had tripped on some branches that lay on the ground in an unusual formation, reminding her of Jesus Christ: two branches spreading sideways like human arms, a disheveled head, and long thin legs. Even a wreath was in place on Jesus’ head.

Shachor took the branches home, cleaned them, and embellished the wreath with some more twigs and thorns.  

 

The artwork ‘Jesus from the Soil of the Holy Land’

Shachor called her friend, Prof. Dina Porat from Tel Aviv University’s Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology at The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, who was planning to attend an international conference on antisemitism in Rome a few days later.

“Nilly sent me a photo of the unusual composition and asked, half-jokingly, if perhaps I could meet the Pope and bring him a very special gift from the soil of the Holy Land,” recalls Prof. Porat.

 

“It was a very meaningful experience for me, and I hope that ‘Jesus from the soil of the Holy Land’ is now displayed on a wall somewhere in the Vatican.” Prof. Dina Porat

 

Challenge Accepted

Accepting the challenge, Prof. Porat framed the photo in gold and called an old friend, Father Norbert Hofmann, Secretary of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, who immediately agreed to help.

“When I arrived in Rome, my friend Norbert said that the next day, like every Wednesday, the Pope would hold the General Audience in which he greets visitors, and that it had been arranged for us to sit in the VIP section, right next to the stage,” recounts Prof. Porat.

“It was a very exciting event. Thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, the Vatican’s large plaza, sang songs and merrily waved their flags. The Pope approached and shook people’s hands. When he approached me, I offered him the gift. He was moved and asked his attendants to safeguard the artwork. It was a very meaningful experience for me, and I hope that ‘Jesus from the soil of the Holy Land’ is now displayed on a wall somewhere in the Vatican.”

The Bible – Fact or Fiction?

Researchers confirm invasions of biblical Israel using geomagnetic fields.

A joint study by TAU and the Hebrew University, involving 20 researchers from different countries and disciplines, has accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel by reconstructing the direction and/or intensity of the earth’s magnetic field recorded in burnt remnants. The new data verify the Biblical accounts of the Egyptian, Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military campaigns against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Findings indicate, for example, that the army of Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of several cities – Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit, and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath of the Philistines, whose destruction is noted in the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, the study refutes the prevailing theory that Hazael was the conqueror who destroyed Tel Beth-Shean.

Other geomagnetic findings reveal that the cities in the Negev were destroyed by the Edomites, who took advantage of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians.

The groundbreaking interdisciplinary study was published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) and is based on the doctoral thesis of Yoav Vaknin, supervised by Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef and Prof. Oded Lipschits of TAU’s Nadler Institute of Archaeology and Prof. Ron Shaar from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University.

WATCH: Yoav Vaknin from TAU’s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology explains about the research

 

Reliable Tool for Archaeological Dating

The researchers explain that geophysicists, attempting to understand the mechanism of earth’s magnetic field, track changes in this field throughout history. To this end, they use archaeological findings containing magnetic minerals which, when heated or burned, record the magnetic field at the time of the fire.

Thus, in a 2020 study, researchers reconstructed the magnetic field as it was on the 9th of the month of Av, 586 BCE, the Hebrew date of the destruction of the First Temple and the City of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army.

Now, using archaeological findings unearthed over several decades at 17 sites throughout Israel, alongside historical information from ancient inscriptions and Biblical accounts, the researchers were able to reconstruct the magnetic fields recorded in 21 destruction layers. They used the data to develop a reliable new scientific tool for archaeological dating.

Yoav Vaknin explains: “Based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign. Moreover, we have constructed a variation curve of field intensity over time which can serve as a scientific dating tool, similar to the radiocarbon dating method.”

Yoav Vaknin measuring at the site (Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)

One example given by the researchers is the destruction of Gath of the Philistines (identified today as Tel Tzafit in the Judean foothills) by Hazael, King of Aram-Damascus. Various dating methods have placed this event at around 830 BCE but were unable to verify that Hazael was also responsible for the destruction of Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit and Horvat Tevet.

The new study, identifying full statistical synchronization between the magnetic fields recorded at all these four sites at the time of destruction, now makes a very strong case for their destruction having taken place during the same campaign.

A destruction level at Tel Beth-Shean, on the other hand, recording a totally different magnetic field, refutes the prevailing hypothesis that it too was destroyed by Hazael. Instead, the magnetic data from Beth-Shean indicate that this city, along with two other sites in northern Israel, was probably destroyed 70-100 years earlier, a date which could correspond with the military campaign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Shoshenq.

Shoshenq’s campaign is described in the Hebrew Bible and in an inscription on a wall of the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt, which mentions Beth-Shean as one of his conquests.

 

“While Jerusalem and frontier cities in the Judean foothills ceased to exist, other towns in the Negev, the southern Judean Mountains and the southern Judean foothills remained almost unaffected. Now, the magnetic results support this hypothesis, indicating that the Babylonians were not solely responsible for Judah’s ultimate demise.” Prof. Erez Ben Yosef

 

Judah’s Ultimate Demise

One of the most interesting findings revealed by the new dating method has to do with the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Prof. Erez Ben Yosef: “The last days of the Kingdom of Judah are widely debated. Some researchers, relying on archaeological evidence, argue that Judah was not completely destroyed by the Babylonians. While Jerusalem and frontier cities in the Judean foothills ceased to exist, other towns in the Negev, the southern Judean Mountains and the southern Judean foothills remained almost unaffected. Now, the magnetic results support this hypothesis, indicating that the Babylonians were not solely responsible for Judah’s ultimate demise.”

“Several decades after they had destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, sites in the Negev, which had survived the Babylonian campaign, were destroyed – probably by the Edomites who took advantage of the fall of Jerusalem. This betrayal and participation in the destruction of the surviving cities may explain why the Hebrew Bible expresses so much hatred for the Edomites – for example, in the prophecy of Obadiah.”   

Prof. Oded Lipschits adds that “the new dating tool is unique because it is based on geomagnetic data from sites, whose exact destruction dates are known from historical sources. By combining precise historical information with advanced, comprehensive archaeological research, we were able to base the magnetic method on reliably anchored chronology.”

 

Burnt mud stones

 

“Until recently scientists believed that [the magnetic field] remains quite stable for decades, but archaeomagnetic research has contradicted this assumption by revealing some extreme and unpredictable changes in antiquity.” Prof. Ron Shaar

 

Taking Advantage of an Unstable Geomagnetic Field

Prof. Ron Shaar, who led the geophysical aspects of the study, as well as the development of the geomagnetic dating method, explains: “Earth’s magnetic field is critical to our existence. Most people don’t realize that without it there could be no life on earth – since it shields us from cosmic radiation and the solar wind. In addition, both humans and animals use it to navigate.”

“The geomagnetic field is generated by earth’s outer core, at a depth of 2,900 km, by currents of liquid iron. Due to the chaotic motion of this iron, the magnetic field changes over time. Until recently scientists believed that it remains quite stable for decades, but archaeomagnetic research has contradicted this assumption by revealing some extreme and unpredictable changes in antiquity.”

“Our location here in Israel is uniquely conducive to archaeomagnetic research, due to an abundance of well-dated archaeological findings. Over the past decade we have reconstructed magnetic fields recorded by hundreds of archaeological items. By combining this dataset with the data from Yoav’s investigation of historical destruction layers, we were able to form a continuous variation curve showing rapid, sharp changes in the geomagnetic field. This is wonderful news, both for archaeologists, who can now use geomagnetic data to determine the age of ancient materials, and for geophysicists studying the earth’s core.”

A separate paper, presenting the scientific principles of the novel archaeomagnetic dating method, is in preparation.

Want Success in Business? Have a Diverse Workforce

Diversity in gender and ethnicity among employees can lead to over 50% improvement in company decision-making.

Gender and ethnic diversity in the workplace are not just a matter of morality or political correctness, according to Prof. Thalma Lobel of Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychological Sciences. Lobel explains that diversity, in fact, contributes to the success of companies and organizations worldwide.  
“When you bring people with different opinions into the room, the decision-making process becomes more complex, and the participants take more information into account. The more perspectives and points of view that are heard, the greater the chances of reaching a better solution.”
 

More Points of View

In her study, Lobel presents a wealth of empirical evidence that gender and ethnic diversity improves the performance of companies and organizations – to the point of bringing about a 58% improvement in decision-making. She mentions as an example a 2008 report, which she says, “found that among the companies included in the Fortune 500 list, those whose board of directors included more women achieved better financial results.” In another example, researchers from the Credit Suisse Research Institute surveyed 2,360 companies and found that the ones whose board of directors included at least one woman performed better than those whose board consisted of only men. A McKinsey report examined the impact of gender and multinational diversity on companies’ financial performance. The researchers looked at the composition of the boards of directors of 180 companies in France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States from 2008 to 2010, and the results were clear: the financial success of the companies that were characterized by diversity were significantly higher than those that were less diverse.” According to Prof. Lobel, these and other studies clearly demonstrate that diversity offers significant benefits to companies and improves their functioning, since people from different backgrounds bring with them a variety of perspectives, points of view, and types of knowledge, and this variety contributes to innovation and creativity: “When you bring people with different opinions into the room, the decision-making process becomes more complex and the participants take more information into account. The more perspectives and points of view that are heard, the greater the chances of reaching a better solution.”   Prof. Thalma Lobel  
“This was a surprising finding which may have far-reaching implications: the mere presence of the minorities changed the trend of decision-making.”
 

Diversity – Louder than Words

Diversity in the workplace, in fact, improves performance even if the diverse perspectives are not heard at all. “Researchers examined the effect of diversity in racial origin on decision-making and the performance of traders in the capital market,” says Prof. Lobel. “They invited people with a financial background to participate in the study, and trained them to calculate the intrinsic value of stocks. The participants were then divided into groups with either a homogenous or diverse make-up. The diverse groups included at least one person of a different origin than the other participants. The researchers conducted their study in two markets – North America and Southeast Asia. “In North America, the homogenous group included only white traders, while the diverse group included one trader of African-American origin and one of Latino origin. In Asia, the homogenous group was composed of only Chinese traders, and the diverse group also included traders from Malaysia and India. The results were astonishing: the members of the diverse groups demonstrated a significantly higher level of accuracy in stock pricing than the homogeneous groups. Their ability to quote a price that reflected the true value of the assets was 58% higher. “The members of the homogeneous groups tended to pay unreasonable and exorbitant prices, which were further from the true value of the stocks than those quoted by the diverse groups. In other words, the chances of a dangerous bubble forming were higher when the trading was carried out by a homogenous group, and lower when the traders belonged to different ethnic groups. This was a surprising finding which may have far-reaching implications: the mere presence of the minorities changed the trend of decision-making.”  
“When you form a team, task force or committee, try to include as many people as possible from a variety of ethnic groups, genders, and backgrounds.”
 

Get an Outsider’s Opinion

In her book, Whatever Works, published in the United States in 2020, Prof. Lobel presents findings that extend far beyond the world of work and business: A study conducted by Prof. Richard Freeman and his doctoral student Wei Huang of Harvard University compared 2.5M articles published in scientific journals, and found that articles whose authors came from diverse ethnic backgrounds garnered more mentions and citations in the scientific literature. “Many studies show that working in a diverse team contributes to better decision-making,” Prof. Lobel concludes. “In light of this, you should take a look around the next time you’re working on a joint project. Are all your team members of the same gender and ethnic group as you? If the answer is yes, you should carefully consider all your options and avoid rushing to make any decisions. You will likely benefit from getting an outsider’s opinion. When you form a team, task force or committee, try to include as many people as possible from a variety of ethnic groups, genders, and backgrounds.”

Our Ancestors Irreparably Damaged the Timna Valley Environment 3000 Years Ago

Their activities destroyed local vegetation for the copper industry.

Humans destroying ecosystems apparently dates as far back as to biblical times: Researchers from Tel Aviv University collected samples of charcoal used as fuel for metallurgical furnaces in the Timna Valley, located in Israel’s southern desert region, during the 11th-9th centuries BCE and examined them under a microscope. They found that the charcoal fuels used changed over time. The earlier samples contained mainly local white broom and acacia thorn trees, excellent fuel available nearby, but the quality of the firewood had deteriorated over time, with later samples consisting of low-quality wood fuel and timber imported from afar. The researchers: “Our findings indicate that the ancient copper industry at Timna was not managed in a sustainable manner, with overexploitation of local vegetation eventually leading to the disappearance of both the plants and the industry. Copper production was not renewed in this region until about a thousand years later, and the local environment has not recovered fully to this day.”  
“We can only assume that [King] David took an interest in this remote desert region because of its copper – an important and valuable metal at the time, used for making bronze among other purposes.”
 

Why Burn so Many Trees?

The study was conducted by PhD student Mark Cavanagh, Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef, and Dr. Dafna Langgut, head of the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments, all from TAU’s Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, and Dr. Langgut is also affiliated with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. The study was published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports from the Nature portfolio. “Many findings in the Timna Valley indicate that a vast copper industry flourished here for a period of about 250 years, between the 11th and 9th centuries BCE, with thousands of mining sites, and about 10 processing sites that used furnaces to extricate copper from the ore,” says Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef, director of the archaeological excavations in the Timna Valley. “This impressive operation is known to the public as ‘King Solomon’s Mines’, and today we know that copper production peaked here at about the time of Kings David and Solomon.” “The Bible never mentions the mines as such, but it does tell us that David conquered the area of Timna, known at the time as Edom, placing garrisons throughout the land, so that the Edomites became his subjects; and that his son Solomon used huge quantities of copper for building the Temple in Jerusalem. We can only assume that David took an interest in this remote desert region because of its copper – an important and valuable metal at the time, used for making bronze among other purposes. The Timna copper industry was run by the local Edomites, who specialized in this profession, and copper from Timna was exported to distant lands, including Egypt, Lebanon, and even Greece. This study shows, however, that the industry was not sustainable, a fact that may fit in well with occupation by a foreign power, perhaps ruled from Jerusalem.” Investigating a pile of industrial waste mixed with charcoal on Slaves’ Hill, Timna Valley (photo: Erez Ben-Yosef and the Central Timna Valley Project) The researchers explain that Timna’s copper industry was highly advanced for its time, and that the metalsmiths who processed the copper were skilled and well-respected individuals. The copper was extracted from the ore via smelting in earthenware furnaces at a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius. The entire process took about eight hours, after which the furnace was smashed, and the copper retrieved from its base. The wood charcoal required to attain the high temperature was manufactured beforehand at special sites, by slow combustion of trees and bushes cut down for this purpose.

Where did the Firewood Come From?

Ever since the copper industry at Timna was first discovered, about 200 years ago, researchers have repeatedly asked what fuel was used to heat the smelting furnaces. Since vegetation is very sparse in this desert area, where did the firewood come from? “In order to finally solve this mystery, we collected samples of charcoal from the smelting sites and examined them in the lab,” says Mark Cavanagh. The charcoal samples, well-preserved thanks to the dry desert climate, were taken from mounds of industrial waste at two large production sites in the Timna Valley and brought to the archaeobotanical laboratory at TAU. “At the lab we examine plant remains discovered at archeological excavations,” explains Dr. Dafna Langgut. “In the present study we examined more than 1,000 charcoal samples under an electronic microscope. The anatomic structure of the original wood is preserved in the charcoal, and under the microscope the species can be identified. The samples were dated according to the layer of the waste mound in which they had been found, and some were also sent out for carbon-14 dating.”  
“The production site called the ‘Slaves’ Hill’ (…) burned as many as 400 acacias and 1,800 brooms every year. As these resources dwindled, the industry looked for other solutions, as evidenced by the changing composition of the charcoal.”
  Excavating Slaves’ Hill (photo: Hai Ashkenazi, courtesy of the Central Timna Valley Project) Mark Cavanagh describes the findings: “We found significant changes in the composition of the charcoal as time went on. Charcoal from the bottom layer of the mounds, dated to the 11th century BCE, mostly contained two plants known to be excellent burning materials: 40% acacia thorn trees, and 40% local white broom, including broom roots. The ‘burning coals of the broom tree’ are even mentioned in the Bible as excellent firewood (Psalm 120, 4). About 100 years later, around the middle of the 10th century BCE, we saw a change in the makeup of the charcoal. The industry had begun to use fuel of a lower quality, such as various desert bushes and palm trees. In this latter stage, other trees were imported from far away, such as junipers from the Edomite plateau in present-day Jordan, covering distances of up to 100 km from Timna, and terebinth, also transported from dozens of kilometers away.”

Lasting Damage

The researchers claim that the gradual change in the contents of the charcoal resulted from overexploitation that had destroyed the natural resources – in this case high-quality firewood, the acacia and white broom. Prof. Ben-Yosef: “Based on the amount of industrial waste found at the processing sites we can calculate the quantity of woody plants required for producing copper. For example, the production site called the ‘Slaves’ Hill’, which was only one of several sites operating simultaneously, burned as many as 400 acacias and 1,800 brooms every year. As these resources dwindled, the industry looked for other solutions, as evidenced by the changing composition of the charcoal. However, transporting woody plants from afar did not prove cost-effective for the long run, and eventually, during the 9th century BCE, all production sites were shut down. The copper industry in the Timna Valley was renewed only 1,000 later, by the Nabateans.” Dr. Langgut concludes: “Our study indicates that 3,000 years ago humans caused severe environmental damage in the Timna Valley, which affects the area to this day. The damage was caused through overexploitation, especially of the acacia and white broom, which, as key species in the ecosystem of the Southern Arava, had supported many other species, stored water, and stabilized the soil. Their disappearance generated a domino effect of environmental damage, irreparably harming the entire area. Three thousand years later, the local environment still hasn’t recovered from the crisis. Some species, like the white broom, once prevalent in the Timna Valley, are now very rare, and others have disappeared forever.” Tel Aviv University’s Dr. Dafna Langgut and Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef

World’s Earliest Evidence of Opium Use

Opium residue was found in Israel, dating back to the 14th century BC. Researchers believe Canaanites used the psychoactive drug as offering for the dead.

A new study by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and The Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the earliest known evidence of the use of the hallucinogenic drug opium, and psychoactive drugs in general, in the world. The opium residue was found in ceramic vessels discovered at Tel Yehud in Israel, in an excavation conducted by Eriola Jakoel on behalf of the Antiquities Authority. The vessels that contained the opium date back to the 14th century BC, and were found in Canaanite graves, apparently having been used in local burial rituals. This exciting discovery confirms historical writings and archeological hypotheses according to which opium and its trade played a central role in the cultures of the Near East. The research was conducted as part of Vanessa Linares’s doctoral thesis, under the guidance of Prof. Oded Lipschits and Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archeology and Prof. Ronny Neumann of the Weizmann Institute, in collaboration with Eriola Jakoel and Dr. Ron Be’eri of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The study was published in the journal Archaeometry.  
“Because the vessels are similar in shape to the poppy flower when it is closed and upside down, the hypothesis arose already in the 19th century that they were used as ritual vessels for the drug.”
 

Thoughtful Send-off

In 2012, the Antiquities Authority conducted a salvage excavation at the Tel Yehud site, prior to the construction of residences there. Several Canaanite graves from the Late Bronze Age were found in the excavation, and next to them burial offerings – vessels intended to accompany the dead into the afterlife. Among the pottery, a large group of vessels made in Cyprus and referred to in the study as “Base-Ring juglets,” stood out. Because the vessels are similar in shape to the poppy flower when it is closed and upside down, the hypothesis arose already in the 19th century that they were used as ritual vessels for the drug. Now, an organic residue analysis has revealed opium residue in eight vessels, some local and some made in Cyprus. This is the first time that opium has been found in pottery in general, and in Base-Ring vessels in particular. It is also the earliest known evidence of the use of hallucinogens in the world.   Vessels intended to accompany the dead into the afterlife. These Cypriot jugs and juglets were laid on the deceased. Remains of opium were found in several of the vessels (photo: Assaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority)  
“It may be that during these ceremonies, conducted by family members or by a priest on their behalf, participants attempted to raise the spirits of their dead relatives in order to express a request, and would enter an ecstatic state by using opium.”
 

Raising Spirits

“In the excavations conducted at Tel Yehud to date, hundreds of Canaanite graves from the 18th to the 13th centuries BC have been unearthed,” shares Dr. Ron Be’eri of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “Most of the bodies buried were those of adults, of both sexes. The pottery vessels which had been placed within the graves were used for ceremonial meals, rites and rituals performed by the living for their deceased family members.” Beeri explains that the dead were honored with foods and drinks that were either placed in the vessels or consumed during a feast that took place over the grave, at which the deceased was, in fact, considered a participant. It may be that during these ceremonies, conducted by family members or by a priest on their behalf, participants attempted to raise the spirits of their dead relatives to express a request, and would enter an ecstatic state by using opium. Alternatively, he says, the opium, which was placed next to the body, may have been intended to help the spirit of the deceased rise from the grave in preparation for the meeting with their relatives in the next life.  
“Canaanites attached great importance to ‘satisfying the needs of the dead’ through ritual ceremonies performed for them by the living, and believed that in return, the spirits would ensure the health and safety of their living relatives”
 

Highly Valued Drug

Vanessa Linares of Tel Aviv University explains: “This is the only psychoactive drug that has been found in the Levant in the Late Bronze Age. In 2020, researchers discovered cannabis residue on an altar in Tel Arad, but this dated back the Iron Age, hundreds of years after the opium in Tel Yehud. Because the opium was found at a burial site, it offers us a rare glimpse into the burial customs of the ancient world. Of course, we do not know what the opium’s role was in the ceremony – whether the Canaanites in Yehud believed that the dead would need opium in the afterlife, or whether it was the priests who consumed the drug for the purposes of the ceremony.” “Moreover, the discovery sheds light on the opium trade in general. One must remember that opium is produced from poppies, which grew in Asia Minor – that is, in the territory of current-day Turkey – whereas the pottery in which we identified the opium were made in Cyprus. In other words, the opium was brought to Yehud from Turkey, through Cyprus; this of course indicates the importance that was attributed to the drug.” Dr. Ron Be’eri of the Antiquities Authority adds, “Until now, no written sources have been discovered that describe the exact use of narcotics in burial ceremonies, so we can only speculate what was done with opium. From documents that were discovered in the Ancient Near East, it appears that the Canaanites attached great importance to ‘satisfying the needs of the dead’ through ritual ceremonies performed for them by the living, and believed that in return, the spirits would ensure the health and safety of their living relatives.” According to Eli Eskosido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “New scientific capabilities have opened a window for us to fascinating information and have provided us with answers to questions that we never would have dreamed of finding in the past. One can only imagine what other information we will be able to extract from the underground discoveries that will emerge in the future.” Featured image: Vanessa Linares from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archeology

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