The remains of a massive banquet from 12,000 years ago have been found in a cave in northern Israel.

A team excavating a burial cave in Galilee, northern Israel, uncovered the remains of at least 71 tortoises and three wild cattle.

The shells and bones showed evidence of the animals being cooked and butchered for human consumption.

The finds were in two specially crafted hollows linked to burial rituals, said the researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Tortoise shells were placed under, around and on top of the remains of a ritually buried shaman.

Meat from the tortoises alone could probably have fed around 35 people, according to study leader Dr Natalie Munro, from the University of Connecticut, United States.

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A stunning 1,150-year-old viking necklace has been found in a cave in Ireland.

A team of archaeologists are scratching their heads over the ‘bizarre’ discovery of a 1,150-year-old Viking necklace in a Burren Cave.

It is the largest Viking necklace discovered in Ireland and is said to be “relatively rare in the Viking world”.

Dr Marion Dowd of Sligo IT is leading the excavation of Glencurran Cave in the Burren National Park, which she yesterday described as a ‘treasure trove’ for archaeologists.

The necklace was one of the major items discovered in the dig funded by the Department of the Environment and the Royal Irish Academy and is described as a ‘stunning piece of jewellery’ by Dr Dowd.

Dr Dowd said yesterday: “The necklace is the largest Viking necklace to have been found in Ireland. Normally, Viking necklaces that have been found have five to six glass beads, but this has 71 glass beads covered with gold foil.”

A leading expert on Irish cave archaeology, Dr Dowd said: “It is really is bizarre how this necklace from a high status Viking came to be in a cave in the Burren. There is no parallel for it in Ireland and it is puzzling on a number of fronts.”

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A 23,000-year-old wall have been found at the entrance to a cave in Thessaly.

The age of the find, determined by an optical dating test, singles it out as “probably one of the oldest in the world”, according to a ministry press release.

“The dating matches the coldest period of the most recent ice age, indicating that the cavern’s paleolithic inhabitants built it to protect themselves from the cold”, said the ministry.

The wall blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the cave, located close to Kalambaka, itself near the popular tourist area and monastic centre of Meteora in central Greece. Greek palaeontologists have been excavating the site for the last 25 years.

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The skeletal remains of a youth who died 8,000-11,000 year ago have been found in a cave in Malaysia.

The bones were found in the Bewah Cave near Kenyir Lake in the northeastern state of Terengganu in November.

DNA samples had been sent to the United States for radiocarbon dating with results expected in March, it said.

Nik Hassan said pieces of pottery, some bearing apparent rock paintings and believed to date back to the Neolithic Age, were also found in the area.

The oldest human remains in Malaysia were discovered in 1991 in the northern state of Perak. The skeleton of “Perak Man” was believed to be 11,000 years old, the New Sunday Times newspaper said.

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Three unfinished Byzantine tombs have been found in a recently discovered a cave in Wadi al-Zahab, Syria.

Head of the Department Farid Jabbour said the cemetery was discovered during the excavations carried out by the General Establishment for Water studies to keep off floods.

The expedition also surveyed the areas of Tal al-Safa, Tal Marah and Jaftlik, which date back to prehistoric ages. The expedition studied, documented and photographed the area, collecting samples of pottery fragments and making drawings of stone sculptures.

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