Archeologists have unearthed a key structure in Jerusalem, likely used for ritual and worship, dating back to the First Temple period. At more than 2,000 square feet, the site contains eight rooms with installations, including an altar, oil press and winepress, according to a newly published article in the journal Atiqot.
Archaeologist Eli Shukron conducted the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority and believes the structure was a site of ritual practice until the 8th century B.C.E. when it likely fell out of use.
He and his team uncovered objects including cooking pots, jars bearing fragments of ancient Hebrew inscriptions, stamped seals with decorative motifs, and grinding stones used for crushing grains.
“This unique structure uncovered in the City of David is an exciting testimony to Jerusalem’s rich past,” said Amichai Eliyahu, Israel’s minister of heritage, in a press release.
Although the current excavation began in 2010, the northern part of the structure was first uncovered in 1909 by Montague Parker, a British adventurer who came to Jerusalem in search of the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple treasures.
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