New archaeological find in Jerusalem may shed light on Israel's life before Roman occupation

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For many centuries, the Western Wall has been one of the main symbols of faith and hope for hundreds of generations of Jews. This is the most sacred place in Judaism, a place of pilgrimage and prayer. After all, this is the only thing that has survived not even from the Temple itself, but from its fortifications around the Temple Mount. People come here to mourn the shrine destroyed by the Romans. Recently, archaeologists have found a series of mysterious underground chambers full of ancient artifacts near this wall. What was found in these rooms, which, according to experts, are about 2000 years old and what was their purpose?

The earliest source that mentions the Western Wall is a document dating back to the 4th century. In Hebrew, its name sounds like "Kotel Maaravi", which means "Western Wall". This place began to be called the Wailing Wall because Jewish believers come here and mourn the destroyed Temple. It is said that sometimes drops of water appear on the Wall, like tears. This phenomenon was last seen in 1940.

At the beginning of the 20th century, with the beginning of the Zionist movement, the Western Wall became one of the causes of conflicts between Jews and Muslims. Thousands of tourists and pilgrims flock to this place every day. In addition to prayers, it is customary to leave notes in the cracks of the Wall with requests to God. There are about a million such notes every year. Twice a year they are collected and buried in the ground on the Mount of Olives (Maslenitsa). The wall and the area around it are divided in two. The left side is for men and the right side is for women. On the men's one you can celebrate festivities, dance, sing, and on the women's one you can only pray and put notes.

At the Western Wall, an exciting event for archaeologists and historians took place - the discovery of underground chambers. This is so valuable because in such a place, inhabited for millennia, some buildings were built on top of others. In Jerusalem with the Western Wall, this is exactly the case.

Last year, Israeli archaeologists began excavating a large building near the Western Wall. It was built at the end of the Byzantine era, in the period from the 4th to the 14th century. This building has a flat white mosaic floor. When archaeologists began excavating, they found that several small rooms were carved into the rock on which the building stands.

In some of these underground chambers, the researchers found the remains of oil lamps and other objects. According to them, archaeologists have determined the age of these premises - it is about 2000 years. Barak Monnikkendam-Givon, the project's lead archaeologist, noted that they had never seen such vast underground structures in the city. The team immediately found it difficult to say for what purpose these cameras could serve.

The rooms are very close, just 30 meters from the holy place, which the Jews know as the Temple Mount and the Muslims call it Haram al-Sharif. This place is the most sacred in the city for Jews and the third largest for followers of Islam. The Temple Mount has also been an important religious site at various times for the Greeks, Romans, British, Crusaders, Byzantines, Babylonians, Israelites, and Ottomans. All of them at one time fought to own and rule the city of David.

Published statements by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority say the underground complex consists of two rooms and a courtyard. It was all under the building, abandoned and forgotten for about 1400 years.

The rooms were hewn at different levels of stone and connected by carved staircases. The walls have niches that likely served as storage space, shelves, lamp holders, and even door frames. Monnikkendam-Givon noted that when the chambers were created, they were quite close to what used to be the civic center of old Jerusalem. The archaeological team believes the street was only a few meters away and acted as a passage linking the city to the Temple Mount.

This stunning discovery is a rare piece of ancient Jerusalem history. Much of this sacred, majestic city was destroyed in 70 AD by the soldiers of the Roman emperor Titus. Thus, the Jewish revolt against the dominion of Rome was suppressed. Several decades after the uprising was suppressed, the Romans began to rebuild the city to their liking.

Despite what historical value may be hidden in this discovery, it is not yet clear what these premises are intended for. Researchers are puzzled. Many artifacts have been found in the chambers, but so far they are not enough to help archaeologists form a convincing theory about whether it was a dwelling, a prison, a vault or a refuge.

Chambers carved out of rock, such as these, are very unusual for this place and time period. Most of the inhabitants then lived in houses built from stone blocks rather than carved out of solid stone. Archaeologists also hope to learn more about the Byzantine building that was built on top of the complex. So far, all that is known about it is that it was destroyed by an earthquake at the beginning of the 11th century.

The team will carefully study the artifacts they found in the mysterious underground rooms along the western wall. Archaeologists are confident that they are able to shed light not only on the find itself, but also on what life in Jerusalem was like before the Roman occupation.

If you are interested in the events of bygone days, read our article on what was kept in a hiding place of prisoners, which was found in one of the ovens of Auschwitz.