2,300-year-old rural town uncovered in Israel

Excavations on the outskirts of Jerusalem have revealed the remains of an ancient rural village that dates back to the Second Temple period, which lasted between 530 BC and 70 AD, and refers to the period in which the Jewish temple stood on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount following the destruction of the First Temple.

The ancient town was discovered during a salvage excavation ahead of a construction project to install a 35-kilometre gas pipeline.  It is located on a ridge with a clear view of the surrounding countryside near the legendary Burma Road, a route that allowed supplies and food to flow into Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The finding of the old town includes the discovery of narrow alleys and a few single-family stone houses, each containing several rooms and an open courtyard. The archaeologists also found dozens of coins, cooking pots, milling tools and jars for storing oil and wine.