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A new article, published in the IAA’s journal Atiqot this week, suggests this unique structure, with a series of eight rock-hewn rooms, was used for cultic purposes and was in use during the time the Temple stood on the Temple Mount, a few hundred meters to the north.
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The mysterious carvings found inside the building
(Photo: Kobi Harati, City of David Park)
According to the IAA, this is the only cultic structure from this period discovered in Jerusalem to date and one of the few found in the country.
The uncovered structure spans an area of about 2,368 square feet (220 m²). Various installations were found inside the eight rooms, such as an olive press for oil production, a winepress, foundations of a hewn structure with a drainage channel that experts identified as an altar and a large upright stone, beside which cultic activity took place.
In one of the rooms, mysterious hewing marks shaped like a “V” were found on the floor, the meaning of which has not yet been clarified by the researchers. Eli Shukron, the site’s excavator, said that these hew marks might have been the bases for installations used in the ritual ceremonies held at the site.
A small cave was uncovered at the edge of the cultic structure, containing a collection of tools dating back to the 8th century BCE. Among the tools found were cooking pots, jugs with parts of names written in ancient Hebrew script, loom weights, scarabs, seal impressions with images and grinding stones used for crushing grains.
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Scarab carving dating to the 8th century BCE found in the dig
(Photo: Vladimir Neichen, Israel Antiquities Authority)
The article’s authors from the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem led by Shukron — who directed the excavation on behalf of the IAA — believe that the unique structure was in use until the middle of the Kingdom of Judah period.
“The Bible tells that during the First Temple period, additional cultic sites operated outside the Temple, and two of the Kings of Judah — Hezekiah and Josiah — carried out religious reforms to abolish these cultic sites and centralize worship in the Temple in Jerusalem,” he added.
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Possible reconstruction of the building
(Illustration: Sharon Kelver, City of David Park)
“When we started excavating in the City of David in 2010, we were surprised to find that the site was sealed with 8th-century BCE fill — at that point, it had probably fallen out of use. The monumental stone we uncovered remained upright and the other rooms of the structure were well-preserved.”
“The unique structure uncovered in the City of David is a moving testament to Jerusalem’s rich past,” Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu said. “Discoveries of this kind highlight our historical roots and our connection to Jerusalem and the sites where the culture and belief of the Jewish people took shape over millennia.”
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