MOTZA, ISRAEL—According to the Greek Reporter, new research indicates that the ancient inhabitants of the site of Motza, Israel, had surprising mastery of a complicated flooring technique thousands of years earlier than previously expected. During highway construction west of Jerusalem, archaeologists uncovered a late Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement consisting of more than 20 building complexes dating to between 7100 and 6700 b.c. These structures contained around 100 plaster floors. Closer analysis of these surfaces revealed that some of them were actually made from dolomite lime plaster as opposed to the more common limestone plaster. Dolomite has advantages over limestone, which is a similar type of...