Located on Mount Hotzvim in Jerusalem, a large quarry has been under excavation, exposing more information about the time period of the Second Temple when Jesus walked in the Holy Land.
Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority excavated the area covering about 3,500 square meters, being part of a large quarry field, according to a press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
They have discovered dozens of building stones of various sizes, paths and various tools.
The carved building stones reached a whopping length of about 8 feet, a width of nearly 4 feet, and a thickness of about 1 foot.
“The weight of each such hewn block was about 2.5 tons! The impressive size of the stones that were carved from here in the quarries may indicate that they were intended to serve as building stones in one of the many state building factories that were carried out in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period,” he said. Michael Tchernin and Lara Shilov, excavation managers from the Israel Antiquities Authority said in the release.
“It can be assumed, very cautiously, that at least some of the carved building stones from here were intended to be used as paving slabs for the streets of Jerusalem of that period.”
“In another excavation carried out in the City of David in recent years, archaeologists have discovered a paved road (terraced road – “through the pilgrims”) that also dates back to the end of the Second Temple-Tac period: surprisingly, it turns out. that the paving stones of this road are identical in size, thickness and geological composition to the stone slabs quarried in the quarry now exposed at Har Hotzvim,” the announcement said, referring to the stones matching those used to build “The Pilgrim’s Way”.
In 2019, Israel officially opened the stairs, known as the “Pilgrim’s Way”, on which Jesus is believed to have walked in ancient Jerusalem as another place with significance of “biblical proportions” to the billions.
“It brings the Bible back to life,” David Friedman, the former US ambassador to Israel, told Fox News’ Pete Hegseth at the time.
“From a sewage pipe that burst 15 years ago came these excavations that resulted in the discovery of the Pool of Siloam, where all the Jewish pilgrims came and purified themselves before going up to the temple and then a whole street, not a relic, no. an antiquity, but a whole road untouched by that pool that goes up to the Temple.”
Friedman added, “People can literally immerse themselves in that environment, where the great biblical figures of the time Jesus walked, we know that Jesus took this path. We know that His visits to the Temple are well documented. So that you really have the opportunity to immerse yourself in ancient history in this incredible, amazing discovery.”
The Second Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem for 420 years between 349 BC and 70 AD.
During the Second Temple era, Jews were subject to foreign rule by the Persians, Greeks and eventually the Romans, according to the Chabad Organization.
A stone tool believed to be more than 2,000 years old was also discovered.
“This is a clean stone tool that was used by the Jewish community during the Second Temple period. It may have been designed on site, on the quarry site, or brought specially to the site for use by stonemasons,” said Shilav on release.
Archaeologists are working to bring the quarry to the public and are working with a developer to “integrate [the quarry] in the commercial complex that is planned to be built” in the location.
The tools will be exhibited at the National Archeology Campus in Jerusalem.
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