LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The two six-inch long statues, made from limestone and dolomite are believed to have been used as good luck charms for hunters during the Stone Age.

The discovery is being heralded by experts. The "charms" are so very ancient that they predate Moses by several thousands of years.

The Stone Age figurines turned up during an excavation that's being conducted a few miles north of Jerusalem to clear the way for widening Highway 1 to Tel Aviv. The project's directors said they were found last week, near a large round building that had a foundation built from fieldstones, and an upper wall section apparently made of mud brick.

One figurine resembles an ox, the other a horned ram, after examining the site of a construction project a few miles north of Jerusalem.

"It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period," lead excavator Hamoud Khalaily said in a statement.

"Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt and might have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey."

It's estimated the statues date back 9,000 to 9,500 years, a time known as Pre-Pottery Neolithic B.

"It is considered one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of mankind; many changes took place in it that shaped human society for thousands of years to come," Khalaily says

"During this period, the transition began from nomadism, based on hunting and gathering, to sedentary life, and based on farming and grazing."

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.