A network of enigmatic passageways that are about 2,800 years old and date to the reign of King Joash and Amaziah have been discovered by archaeologists working in Jerusalem.
According to a statement released by the IAA on Wednesday, the installations are the first of their sort to be found in Israel. The City of David archaeological site, which is thought by the majority of scholars to represent the location of the original settlement at Jerusalem, is located in the national park where the structures were discovered.
Although it is unknown exactly what the ancient Jerusalemites were producing there, the grooves carved into the bedrock were probably used to soak some kind of substance, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ancient structures are the first of their kind ever discovered in Israel, according to the country’s antiquity’s authority. Image Credit: IAA
No blood was discovered during forensic examination of the ducts, indicating that they were not utilized for animal killing. Additionally, it doesn't seem like the ducts were made to transport a lot of water.
The researchers claim they are only able to hypothesize on the structure's function because there is no known counterpart for such a structure in Israel. Their central location suggests that the item was associated with the economy of the Palace or Temple.
According to scholars, the buildings were in use throughout the time that the city's First Temple is believed to have existed.
Archaeologists excavating the channel installations found in Jerusalem. Image credit: IAA
In the City of David National Park, excavations by the IAA and Tel Aviv University have so far found two installations that are about 30 feet (10 meters) apart but may have been a single, larger facility.
Despite significant variations in the two channels' hewing and design, it is evident that they are relatively comparable, according to the IAA.
Two groups of knee-deep channels are spaced 10 meters apart. They are roughly 30 centimeters broad and 50 cm high, built of hewn rock. They don't appear to have been utilized for drainage or sewage disposal, and they aren't connected to any other water sources.
According to Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University's Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Department, "the mystery only grew deeper when we found the second installation to the south."
“We looked at the installation and realized that we had stumbled on something unique, but since we had never seen a structure like this in Israel, we didn’t know how to interpret it,” Yiftah Shalev, a senior researcher at the IAA, stated. “Even its date was unclear.”
The installations stopped being used at the end of the 9th century B.C., during the reigns of the biblical Judean rulers Joash and Amaziah.
In the past, a big industrial and residential complex stood where the ducts are now. As a result, it's probable that the ducts were used for a range of purposes, including the production of food, textiles, and ceremonies related to religion.
Though a mystery, the discovery of the ducts is significant. It offers fresh perspectives on the historic city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The ducts are a unique find that is helping archaeologists learn more about Jerusalem's past.
