Avi Gopher
Avi Gopher is an Israeli archaeologist. He is a professor at the University of Tel Aviv. Biography. Avraham (Avi) Gopher completed his B.A. at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1978, M.A. in 1981 and PhD in 1986. He specialises in prehistoric Israel. Archaeology career. Gopher's work at Qesem with Ran Barkai and Israel Hershkowitz received considerable press coverage. The team claimed to have discovered the oldest homo sapiens remains ever found at the cave near Rosh HaAyin in central Israel. Their paper, published in the "American Journal of Physical Anthropology", states that the human teeth they discovered  are between 400,000 and 200,000 years old although it was impossible to definitely identify the particular species of human. In an interview, Gopher said "they definitely leave all options open. There's been a tendency for people to get so accustomed to the "out of Africa" hypothesis that they use it exclusively and explain any finding that doesn't fit it as evidence of yet another wave of migration out of Africa." Gopher and agronomist Shahal Abbo of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have written a book that challenges the scientific consensus over the domestication of wild plants. They contend  that the process of domestication was rapid, well-planned and organized, and that several plant species were domesticated in a single location. Published works. Books Chapters in books, papers and articles