The Israel Antiquities Authority reported on Wednesday that a rare channel system from the First Temple era had been discovered in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem.
The excavation has so far found two installations that were likely part of a larger complex and were located around 10 meters apart. At least nine channels were smoothed out for the initial installation. Seven drain pipes that conveyed fluids from the cliff’s top could be found on top of the rock cliff surrounding the installation to the south.
Such buildings have never been discovered elsewhere in Israel, and it is still unclear what they were intended to do.
Senior researcher at the Antiquities Authority Yiftah Shalev added, “We even solicited the assistance of the police forensic unit and its research partners around the world, but so far—to no avail. According to one notion, these tunnels were used to soak goods, perhaps agricultural products like flax or dates.
“The flax must be softened by soaking it for a lengthy time when making linen, for instance.
Another hypothesis is that the tubes contained dates that were exposed to the sun’s heat in order to generate silan, or date honey, according to Shalev.
According to him, the latter would be consistent with comparable buildings discovered in Oman, Bahrain, and Iran but that had never before been seen in Israel.
“When we examined the installation, we understood that we had come upon something special, but we were unsure of how to interpret it because we had never seen a structure like this in Israel. Even the date was ambiguous, according to Shalev.
This period is when we know that Jerusalem covered an area that comprised the City of David and the Temple Mount, which served as the heart of Jerusalem, says Professor Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University, which is also involved in the excavations.
The channels’ central location close to the city’s most well-known areas suggests that the goods produced there were associated with the temple’s or palace’s economy.
According to him, bringing agricultural animal and plant produce to the temple is part of its religious activities. Visitors to the temple frequently brought back goods that carried the holiness of the location.
Many crucial biblical events happened in the City of David National Park, which is where King David constructed his city.
The excavated ruins of dwellings, cisterns, and defenses are on display for visitors to explore, providing a look into Jerusalem’s ancient past. Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which the king constructed to provide the city with water before an Assyrian siege led by Sennacherib, is the park’s most famous feature. The public access routes would be open the next week, according to the Antiquities Authority.
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