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Israeli scientists have discovered an ancient ecosystem containing eight previously unknown species in a lake inside a cave, where they were completely sheltered from the outside world for millions of years.

The newly discovered crustaceans and invertebrates were found last month in a cave near the city of Ramle in central Israel, team leader Amos Frumkin announced Thursday.

“This is a very unique ecosystem that is completely isolated from the surface,” said Dr. Frumkin, a cave researcher in the geography department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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Check this out.

On the town of al-Ramla, where this discovery was made:

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According to the 9th century Arab geographer Ya'qubi, al-Ramla (Ramle) was founded in 716 by the Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, and its name was derived from the Arabic Raml – meaning sand. The initial population of persons moved from Ludd (Lydda, Lod). Ramle flourished as the capital of Jund Filastin, which was one of the five districts of the ash-Sham (Syrian) province of the Arab-Muslim empire. Ramla was the principal city and capital of the country from its birth until the advent of the Crusaders in the 11th Century.

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The name of the city was changed to Ramle after the Arab population was driven out in 1948, and Israeli settlers occupied their houses.

Seems like under every innocent rock there is an interesting discovery to be made.

[ 02 June 2006: Message edited by: Cueball ]