Posted on 03/13/2006 6:55:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge
JERUSALEM - Underground chambers and tunnels used during a Jewish revolt against the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago have been uncovered in northern Israel, archaeologists said Monday.
The Jews laid in supplies and were preparing to hide from the Romans during their revolt in A.D. 66-70, the experts said. The pits, which are linked by short tunnels, would have served as a concealed subterranean home.
Yardenna Alexandre of the Israel Antiquities Authority said the find shows the ancient Jews planned and prepared for the uprising, contrary to the common perception that the revolt began spontaneously.
"It definitely was not spontaneous," Alexandre said. "The Jews of that time certainly did prepare for it, with underground hideaways here and in other sites we have found."
The underground chambers at the Israeli Arab village of Kfar Kana, north of Nazareth, were built from housing materials common at the time and hidden directly beneath the floors of aboveground homes — giving families direct access to the hideouts. Other refuges found from the time of the revolt are hewn out of rock.
"This construction was very well camouflaged inside one of the houses," Alexandre said. "There are three pits under this house and one tunnel leading to another pit. There are 11 storage jars in that pit."
Built like igloos, the chambers are wide at the base and small at the top. The tunnels between them are short and the ceilings are too low for standing upright.
Zeev Weiss, a professor of archaeology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem not connected to the discovery, said the find "can give us more information about life in the Galilee in the first century and the preparations Jews were making on the eve of the revolt." Weiss is director of excavations at Sepphoris, which was the largest city in the Galilee at the time of the revolt.
The Jewish revolt against Roman rule ended in A.D. 70, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple.
The ancient Jews at the Kfar site built their houses over the ruins of a fortified Iron Age city, reusing some of the stones from the original settlement. Then they dug through 5 feet of debris from the ruins to build their hideaway complex. "It was quite a lot of work," Alexandre said.
The original settlement, which dates from the 10th and 9th centuries B.C., is also a new discovery.
Alexandre attributes current dating of the original city as an Iron Age settlement to pottery remains, which are plentiful. The excavators have also found large quantities of animal bones, a scarab depicting a man surrounded by two crocodiles and a ceramic seal bearing the image of a lion.
The excavation of the city's architecture has uncovered fortified walls which still stand 5 feet tall in some places. "It's magnificent," said Alexandre. "You can walk among them."
This undated but recent photo made available by the Israeli Antiquities Authority Monday March 13, 2006, shows an aerial view of the archaeological excavation site in Kfar Kana in northern Israel. Archaeologists said Monday they have uncovered underground chambers and tunnels constructed in northern Israel by Jews for hiding from the Romans during their revolt in A.D. 66-70. (AP Photo/Israeli Antiquities Authority)
ancient tunnels fyi
Thanks. Interesting...
Woooooooo....I'm in awe.
Romanes eunt domus
say
i'm confused
isn't this in the heart of old palestine?
ping
This is clearly incorrect. Every palestinian knows that the Israelis are newcomers, who stole the land. They weren't there during Roman times (/raghead sarcasm)
Click the pic for more info.
11 complete storage jars characteristic of the second half of the 1st century CE
Excavations conducted by the Antiquities Authority in Kfar Kana (13.3.06)
Excavations conducted by the Antiquities Authority in Kfar Kana – north of Nazareth – a city was uncovered that dates to the time of the Kingdom of Israel. In addition, other remains were exposed of the Jewish settlement from the Roman period identified with “Kana of the Galilee”, which is known from the New Testament. Among the other antiquities discovered that date to this period are ‘hiding refuges’, underground pits linked by short tunnels that were apparently built and hewn prior to the Great Revolt by the Jews against the Romans in 66 CE.
In salvage excavations conducted by the Antiquities Authority in Kfar Kana remains of a settlement are being uncovered that existed at the time of the United Kingdom of King Solomon and the Kingdom of Israel (following the split between Israel and Judah, from the 10-9th centuries BCE). During the course of the excavations a section of the city wall and remains of buildings were exposed. The director of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, Yardenna Alexandre, reported that evidence was found there indicating the place was vanquished during the 9th century BCE, probably by an enemy. In addition pottery vessels, large quantities of animal bones, a scarab depicting a man surrounded by two crocodiles and a ceramic seal bearing the image of a lion were discovered at the site.
Following the destruction the excavation area was abandoned until its ruins were re-inhabited by settlers in the Early Roman period (1st century CE). The identity of these residents as Galilean Jews is already known from previous excavations that were carried out at the site and from historic information that identifies the settlement as “Kana of the Galilee” – known from the New Testament. Some of the walls that were destroyed were reused in the new construction and new floors were laid down. The Jewish settlers built igloo-shaped pits on the ruins of the previous settlement, whereby the bedrock served as the floor of the pit and the walls were built. A rock-hewn pit was discovered in one of the tunnels and in it were 11 complete storage jars characteristic of the second half of the 1st century CE. Alexandre noted that “the pits are connected to each other by short tunnels and it seems that they were used as hiding refuges – a kind of concealed subterranean home – that were built prior to the Great Revolt against the Romans in the year 66 CE”.
Any truth to the rumor that the wine containers have "wine by Jesus" stamped on them? Just kidding. I love this kind of stuff. Can i be on Archelology ping list?
I'll copy Sunken Civ on the ping list request.
Those jugs look like early propane tanks.
I enjoy digging and watching stuff getting dug up.
Guess the planning didn't help. Wonder if they heard the Xth muttering "Judea delenda est."?
This is so neat. Bump for later.
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So Shlomo the northern Israel dirt farmer decides to dig some root cellars during the same time a group of urban revolutionaries are fomenting revolt in the capital, and Shlomo is immediately considered part of the revolution?
In 2000 years the Panama canal will be considered preparations for WWI along these lines.
this is so interesting...thanks for posting it!
From what I can gather Palestine in the past referred to Jewish land. It's sorta like our socialist calling Bush a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party aka Nazi.
Words today aren't for factual meaning, only for emotion.
ping for later
Sounds like they used tunneling as part of their defense for quite awhile. I've been through medieval castles that had major tunnel systems. I guess we should expect to find more of these.
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