Jerusalem's Latest Biblical Find: A Massive Stone Quarry from Jesus' Time
JERUSALEM, Israel – A massive stone quarry from the Second Temple period has been uncovered in a Jerusalem industrial area. It's the largest quarry ever discovered from the era before and shortly after the time of Christ.
According to a statement by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), "The excavation provides a glimpse into Jerusalem’s past at its zenith, just before the Romans destroyed it in 70 (AD)."
Another discovery of interest during the dig was a stone tool widely used by Jews during that era because the tool retained its purity according to Jewish Halachic law.
Archaeologists identified a number of cut stones of various sizes from the period, as well.
Michael Chernin and Lara Shilov, excavation directors for the IAA, explained, "Most of the building stones extracted from here were huge rock slabs, whose length reached (approximately 8 feet), their width was (4 feet) and they were (16 inches) thick."
They added, “Each such quarried block weighed two-and-a-half tons! The impressive (sized) stones this quarry produced likely attest to their intended use in one of Jerusalem’s many royal construction projects in the late Second Temple period, beginning under King Herod the Great’s reign between 37-4 (BC)."
King Herod oversaw expansions of the Temple Mount and of the Jewish Temple. He and his successors carried out construction projects around the city, including palaces and public buildings, all of which required the kind of stones cut in the quarry.
Herod's grandson, King Agrippas, who ruled from 37 to 44 AD, constructed one of the most important of the projects in Jerusalem, the city's "Third Wall." He was the king described in Acts 12, who killed the Apostle James and imprisoned Peter.
The IAA is working on another excavation project on the Pilgrim's Road near the Temple Mount. Chemin and Shilov noted, "Amazingly, it turns out that the paving stones of this street are exactly the same size and thickness, and share the identical geological signature as the stone slabs that were extracted from the quarry now being exposed in Har Hotzvim."
The excavation project is being funded by the Vitaria real estate development company, which owns the grounds where the site was discovered.
The IAA's Jerusalem District Supervisor, Dr. Amit Re'em, stated, "We are working tirelessly, together with the developer Vitania, to preserve and present the quarry and integrate it into the planned commercial complex which will be erected here. In this manner, the entire public will gain a lasting impression of this tremendous enterprise’s grandeur – quarrying the building stones for Jerusalem when the Second Temple was standing."
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