Cotton fibers from Tel Tsaf. | Credit: Scientific team at Tel Tsaf

The discovery made by an international team led by Prof. Danny Rosenberg (School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures) was unearthed at Tel Tsaf, a late Neolithic village site in northern Israel. Researchers employed microbotanical analysis in the detection of blue, pink, purple, green, and brown/black cotton fibers. Since cotton does not grow naturally in this arid region, authors of the study suggest that the fabric had been imported, possibly from as far away as the Indus Valley Civilization (South Asia). “The findings at Tel Tsaf attest to the importance of the site as an ancient trading center,” explained Prof. Rosenberg. Other major finds unearthed at Tel Tsaf in recent years include the oldest copper object ever discovered in the Middle East, a clay model of a grain silo, and a stamped seal. The joint study, which included researchers from Stanford, the Landsmuseum in Hanover and others, was published in Frontiers in Plant Sciences. READ MORE