Archeologists excavating a small cave in northern Israel have discovered the skeleton of a woman shaman or priestess-healer who lived some 12,000 years ago, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Tuesday.

It said that the Natufian or Middle Stone Age burial site at Hilazon Tachtit, near the Western Galilee city of Karmiel, also contained rare grave offerings including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard and a human foot. The Natufian culture existed in the area of present-day Israel, Lebanon, and Syria 11,500 to 15,000 years ago.

According to Hebrew University archeologist Leore Grosman, who headed the dig, the elaborate nature of the burial rituals and the method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that the woman had a very high standing within her community.

"Analysis of the bones show that the shaman was 45 years old, petite and had an unnatural, asymmetrical appearance due to a spinal disability that would have affected the woman's gait, causing her to limp or drag her foot," the university said in a statement...