The earliest known natives of this region were the Celtic Rutheni, to whom the numerous megalithic monuments found in the department are attributed.
Megalithic town walls were naturally common in that stony land, Palestine, and very typical specimens of them were found in the Palestine Exploration Fund's excavations at Bethshemesh (`Ain Shems) directed by Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, 29 whose work also threw new light on the phenomenon of the appearance in Palestine between the 12th and 10th centuries B.C. of subMycenaean (Greek) pottery, which can only be ascribed to the Philistines, whose historical position as a foreign invading force from the Aegean area (Lycia and Crete-Kaphtor) is now entirely vindicated.
Nine miles from Tebessa are the extensive phosphate quarries of Jebel Dyr, where is also an interesting megalithic village.
Agriculture, pottery, weaving, the domestication of animals, the burying of the dead in dolmens, and the rearing of megalithic monuments are the typical developments of man during this stage.
The Aymaras, indeed, seem to have possessed a very considerable culture before their conquest by the Incas in the 13th and 14th centuries, evidence of which remains in the megalithic ruins of Tiahuanaco.