prehistorian

Both the capstone and the tumulus were dismantled in 1925 during an excavation led by Hugo Obermaier, a Spanish-German anthropologist and prehistorian.

Israel Antiquities Authority prehistorian Avi Levy, who headed the dig, said it was “the largest complete fossil tusk ever found at a prehistoric site in Israel or the Near East.”

That left behind a smooth edge, quite unlike Charonia lampas, said Gilles Tosello, a prehistorian and visual artist also at the University of Toulouse.

Ann Horsburgh, a molecular anthropologist and prehistorian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, attributes such tensions to communication problems.

Mr. de Sautuola faced an uphill climb to prove the find’s legitimacy: Scientists of greater renown, especially the French prehistorian Édouard Cartailhac, vehemently disputed its authenticity.