Ancient Rural Town Uncovered in Israel

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On the outskirts of Jerusalem, archaeologists have discovered the
remains of a 2,300-year-old rural village that dates back to the
Second Temple period, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)
announced.

Trenches covering some 8,000 square feet (750 square meters)
revealed narrow alleys and a few single-family stone houses, each
containing several rooms and an open courtyard. Among the ruins,
archaeologists also found dozens of coins, cooking pots, milling
tools and jars for storing oil and wine.

"The rooms generally served as residential and storage rooms,
while domestic tasks were carried out in the courtyards," Irina
Zilberbod, the excavation director for the IAA, explained in a
statement. [ The
Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds ]

Archaeologists don't know what the town would have been called in
ancient times, but it sits near the legendary Burma Road, a route
that allowed supplies and food to flow into Jerusalem during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War. The rural village located on a ridge with
a clear view of the surrounding countryside, and people
inhabiting the region during the Second Temple period likely
cultivated orchards and vineyards to make a living, IAA officials
said.

The Second Temple period (538 B.C. to A.D. 70) refers to the
lifetime of the Jewish temple that was built on Jerusalem's
Temple Mount to replace the First Temple after it was destroyed.
Archaeological evidence suggests this provincial village hit its
peak during the third century B.C., when Judea was under the
control of the Seleucid monarchy after the breakup of Alexander
the Great's empire. Residents seem to have abandoned the town at
the end of the Hasmonean dynasty — when Herod
the Great came into power in 37 B.C. — perhaps to chase
better job opportunities in the city amid an economic downturn.

"The phenomenon of villages and farms being abandoned at the end
of the Hasmonean dynasty or the beginning of Herod the Great's
succeeding rule is one that we are familiar with from many rural
sites in Judea," archaeologist Yuval Baruch explained in a
statement. "And it may be related to Herod's massive building
projects in Jerusalem, particularly the construction of the
Temple Mount, and the mass migration of villagers to the capital
to work on these projects."

The discovery was made during a salvage excavation ahead of a
construction project that began last year; a 21-mile-long (35
kilometers) gas pipeline was supposed to run through the site,
but engineering plans were revised to go around the ruins, IAA
officials said. Salvage excavations are common in Israel to avoid
building over ancient sites. For instance, remarkably
well-preserved
Byzantine church mosaics were recently revealed ahead of the
construction of a park, and an
ancient Roman road connecting Jerusalem to Jaffa was
uncovered ahead of the installation of a drainage pipe.