Category Archives: ASIA

ASIA, EUROPE, WORLD

First evidence of unknown ancient ‘Israeli Silk Road’ uncovered in Arava trash dump

First evidence of unknown ancient ‘Israeli Silk Road’ uncovered in Arava trash dump

Newly uncovered remains of fabrics from the Far East dating to some 1,300 years ago in Israel’s Arava region suggest the existence of a previously unknown “Israeli Silk Road,” according to a team of researchers from Israel and Germany.

“Our findings seem to provide the first evidence that there was also an ‘Israeli Silk Road’ used by merchants along the international trading routes,” said Prof. Guy Bar-Oz from the University of Haifa, who is leading the excavation.

In a joint excavation sponsored by Germany and carried out by the University of Haifa, the University of Göttingen, and the Israel Antiquities Authority, large quantities of cotton and silk fabrics that likely originated in China, India and modern-day Sudan during the 8th century CE were uncovered in a massive garbage pit at the Nahal Omer site in the Arava Valley, according to a statement issued by the researchers on Wednesday.

“As far as textiles are concerned, Nahal Omer is the most important of all the ancient sites discovered to date in Israel,” the researchers said in the press release.

The findings have not been published in a scientific article yet, as the first season of the ongoing excavation was only completed two weeks ago, Bar-Oz told The Times of Israel. Nevertheless, researchers say they provide far-reaching implications for our understanding of ancient trade routes and, for the first time, the role this region played in the ancient world.

“The findings include a large proportion of imported items, including fabrics bearing typical Indian origin and silk items from China,” said Dr. Orit Shamir from the Israel Antiquities Authority, an expert on ancient textiles in Israel.

“This is the first time that these items dating back to this period have been found in Israel,” she said.

A map showing the traditional routes of the Silk Road.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes used to move exotic goods from China through India, Egypt, and the Middle East to Europe. Most routes were active between the second century CE and the mid-15th century. According to Bar-Oz, his team’s findings seem to provide the first evidence that there was also an Israeli route used by traveling international merchants.

“This route branched off from the traditional Silk Route that passed to the north of Israel, crossing the Arava and connecting to the main historical trade routes that crossed the country, as well as to the main ports of Gaza and Ashkelon that served as a major gateway to the Mediterranean world,” he explained.

Analyzing ancient garbage

According to the archaeologists, their ongoing investigation is unique in that it explores changes in the Arava Valley over long periods of time by analyzing “accumulations of garbage at sites along the trading routes.”

By examining trash mounds at Nahal Omer, which dates to the seventh century CE — the beginning of the Islamic Era in the region — the researchers hope to learn about the everyday lives of traders passing through ancient Israel and to gain an idea of the products they were carrying.

Excavations will resume next summer, said Bar-Oz, and there will be at least two more seasons. Much further research will be carried out on the uncovered textiles, he noted.

Bar-Oz, who specializes in locating and analyzing deposits of trash on ancient trade routes, told The Times of Israel that others have carried out numerous archaeological excavations at Nahal Omer and the surrounding region before, but nobody thought to focus on garbage deposits and the valuable information they could provide.

“We started examining not the well or the fortress or the wall, but things in the perimeter,” he said,

Previous research and academic discussion about ancient trade relied mainly on historical accounts, often from people located far away, according to Bar-Oz.

Prof. Dr. Guy Bar-Oz, School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa.

“We discovered the trash mounds [at Nahal Omer] two years ago and started digging,” he said. “This was new.”

Archaeological remains that allow researchers to touch the material itself are rare but at Nahal Omer they were found in abundance.

“We dug holes five meters deep — imagine the volume of a Suzuki Alto made of garbage. Nearly all mounds we found included mainly organic material. The large volume of such material is the mind-blowing aspect of this excavation,” Bar-Oz said.

“The items we found allowed us to touch, see and measure them with molecular tools. It made it possible to track the production line of the goods that were moved along the trade route,” he added.

Bleached linen textile, dinolite Nofar Shamir.

High demand

Analyzing their findings, researchers were surprised to find “a veritable treasure trove” that included fabrics, items of clothing, hygienic products, leather straps, belts, socks, shoe soles, and combs.

This wealth of organic material allows the researchers to precisely date the items to the 7th-8th centuries CE using carbon dating, a method that uses the properties of radiocarbon to determine the age of organic material.

Uncleaned textiles uncovered at Nahal Omer.

This was made possible due to the dry conditions in Israel’s Negev desert. Materials that would usually disintegrate in humid climates were excellently preserved, researchers said.

One specific finding that excited researchers was fabrics bearing ikat design, a technique originating from Indonesia that includes tying the yarns before dyeing the warp or weft. Ikat fabrics have only been found at a small number of sites in the Middle East and researchers say these findings at Nahal Omer represent one of the earliest archaeologically documented occurrences of this type of textile. Another find included fabrics woven together in a complex process common in Iran and other parts of Central Asia.

“The variety and richness of the findings show that luxury goods from the East were in high demand at the time,” said the IAA’s Shamir.

A view of Timna Park in the Arava Valley in southern Israel, January 26, 2021.

“The findings from the excavation reflect unique contacts on a global level with sources of fabric manufacturing in the Far East. They provide us with new ways to track political, technological and social interactions that have been constantly reshaped by trade networks,” said Bar-Oz.

“We can now explore in more detail the long-distance movement of goods, geographic diffusion of people and ideas and connections along the roads and production centers. All these were, until now, historically and archaeologically invisible or incompletely recorded. Our new findings are an important step in that direction,” he concluded.

Preserved textile from Nahal Omer that was made in the so-called warp-ikat technique.

While the excavation at Nahal Omer provides an invaluable account of the vivid life in ancient Israel, its findings are not the oldest in the area. Last month, Israeli archaeologists from the University of Haifa discovered the earliest evidence of cotton in the ancient Near East during excavations at Tel Tsaf, a 7,000-year-old town in the Jordan Valley.

Tel Tsaf, located near Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, has in recent years provided a wealth of exciting discoveries, including the earliest example of social beer drinking and ritual food storage.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Prehistoric population once lived in Siberia, but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds

Prehistoric population once lived in Siberia, but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds

Prehistoric population once lived in Siberia, but mysteriously vanished, genetic study finds
A skull from one of the individuals analyzed in the new study, which revealed the existence of a previously unknown group of hunter-gatherers living in Siberia more than 10,000 years ago. (Image credit: Sergey V Semenov)

Researchers investigating prehistoric DNA have discovered a mysterious group of hunter-gatherers that lived in Siberia perhaps more than 10,000 years ago. 

The find was made during a genetic investigation of human remains in North Asia dating from as far back as 7,500 years ago. The study also revealed that gene flow of human DNA not only traveled from Asia to the Americas — as was previously known — but also in the opposite direction, meaning people were moving back and forth like ping pong balls along the Bering Land Bridge. 

Furthermore, the team examined the remains of an ancient shaman who lived about 6,500 years ago in western Siberia. This spot is more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) west of the group that he had genetic ties with, according to the new genetic analysis.

North Asia, particularly the area stretching from western to northeastern Siberia, was pivotal in humanity’s trek across the globe. Previous work has shown that the first people to arrive in the Americas, since at least 13,000 years ago, likely came either across or along the coast of the land bridge that once connected North Asia with North America. This corridor, known as Beringia, is now flooded by the Bering Strait.

However, much remains unknown about the genetic makeup of the people who lived in this key region at that time. This is because prehistoric human remains with enough DNA to examine from this region “are extremely rare and hard to find,” study senior author Cosimo Posth, an assistant professor in archaeo- and paleogenetics at the University of Tübingen in Germany, told Live Science.

Many of the prehistoric individuals examined in the study were found in the Altai region of Siberia.

In the new study, the scientists analyzed 10 prehistoric human genomes from previously discovered individuals who lived in North Asia as far back as 7,500 years ago. 

Many of the individuals were found in an area known as the Altai, a crossroad for migrations between northern Siberia, Central Asia and East Asia for millennia, located near where modern-day Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. Previous research in the Altai revealed the first evidence of the mysterious and much older human lineage known as the Denisovans, who together with the Neanderthals are the closest extinct relatives of modern humans.

A view of the Nizhnetytkesken Cave site in Altai, Russia

The scientists discovered that a previously unknown group of hunter-gatherers in the Altai was “a mixture between two distinct groups that lived in Siberia during the last Ice Age,” Posth said. DNA from these prehistoric hunter-gatherers was found in many later communities across North Asia, from the Bronze Age (about 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.) to the present day, “showing how great the mobility of those foraging communities was,” he added. 

In addition, the researchers discovered multiple episodes of gene flow from North America to Asia over the past 5,000 years, with genes from the New World reaching Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean and central Siberia. 

“While there has been a lot of work showing flows of genetic ancestry into the Americas, there has been less evidence for backflow from the American continent to Eurasia,” said Vagheesh Narasim, a geneticist at the University of Texas at Austin, who did not participate in this study. “This work presents a new sample from northeastern Asia to support these results.”

By examining 10 prehistoric genomes, researchers found multiple episodes of gene flow from North America to Asia over the past 5,000 years.

Study lead author Ke Wang, a junior professor in anthropology and human genetics at Fudan University in China, was most surprised by the findings concerning a man’s remains in Nizhnetytkesken Cave in the Altai, who was found with a religious costume and artifacts one might expect of a shaman. His bones date back about 6,500 years, making him about a contemporary of the newly revealed Altai group, but the research team’s analysis revealed that he had genetic ties with groups in the Russian Far East, more than 900 miles to the west of his remains.

“This implies that individuals with very different [genetic] profiles were living in the same region,” Wang told Live Science. “His grave goods appear different from other archeological sites, implying mobility of both culturally and genetically diverse individuals into the Altai region.”

This discovery raises a number of interesting questions and possibilities about people in the region at that time. 

Could this discovery regarding this potential shaman “that far west mean that his ancestral group was more widespread than we previously thought?” Shevan Wilkin, a biomolecular archaeologist at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich, who did not take part in this research, told Live Science. “Or does it mean that he was, in fact, a traveling religious practitioner or healer? All very interesting.”

Overall, the study shows that prehistoric groups were more connected than previously believed. 

All in all, “geographically distant hunter-gatherer groups showed evidence of genetic connections to a much larger extent than previously expected,” Posth said. “This suggests that human migrations and admixtures [interbreeding between groups] were not the exception but the norm also for ancient hunter-gatherer societies.”

Wang, Posth and their colleagues detailed their findings online Jan. 12 the journal Current Biology.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

Archaeological Treasure Trove! 21 Royal Han Tombs Unearthed in China

Archaeological Treasure Trove! 21 Royal Han Tombs Unearthed in China

Photo from the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences via Xinhua

Along a mountainside in China, a collection of tombs with a potentially regal past lay buried for millennia—but not anymore.

Archaeologists excavating an archaeological site in Changsha unearthed 21 vertical pit tombs containing over 200 artifacts, the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a Tuesday, Jan. 10 news release via Xinhua, China’s state-affiliated news outlet.

Many of the tombs were found side-by-side, aerial photos of the site show. On one end of the site, three tombs are in a row. On the other end, four tombs are lined up together. Pairs of tombs may have been the joint burial of a husband and wife, the release said.

A tomb filled with grave goods unearthed at the Changsha site.

All of the tombs are about the same age, dating back 2,000 years to the Western Han Dynasty, the release said.

The Western Han Dynasty was the earlier half of the Han dynasty and lasted from about 200 B.C. to 25 A.D., according to Britannica. 

Because of the particular arrangement and similar age of the burials, archaeologists concluded the collection of tombs is likely a family buried together in an ancient mausoleum.

The tombs were found on a mountainside near a royal tomb, the Taohualing Han Tomb, and a burial area.

Considering this proximity, the 21 tombs may be the royal family, archaeologists said.

Archaeological Treasure Trove! 21 Royal Han Tombs Unearthed in China
The ruins of a double layer tomb.

One of the rare tombs unearthed in Changsha had relatively complete traces of an outer coffin shaped like “Ⅱ” or like double ‘I’s, the release said.

A line of five decaying pillars was also found in the tomb, photos show. These ruins indicate the tomb might be a double layer structure, a tomb structure rarely found in the Hunan province.

The collection of tombs can be grouped into two types: tombs with passageways and tombs without, archaeologists said. The tombs mainly contained pottery artifacts, researchers said.

However, also unearthed were: two iron relics, walls covered in glaze, a mineral known as talc, and a tan-colored talc disk with a rhombus and circle pattern. Photos show the talc disk. 

The talc disk, or bi, found in one of the tombs.

In addition, archaeologists found coins, pottery stoves, pots, and utensils at the site, according to a news release from the Hunan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Other sections of the Changsha archaeological site have not yet been excavated but may contain more findings, Hunan officials said. Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province and about 665 miles southwest of Shanghai.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Moses DID part Red Sea – shock ‘proof’ revealed by scientists

Moses DID part Red Sea – shock ‘proof’ revealed by scientists

According to the stories of Exodus, Leviticus, Number, and Deuteronomy in the Bible, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt after God cursed the country with the ten plagues. Moses’ biblical exodus saw him save the Israelites and lead them to Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments.

But proof of the exodus and Moses’ miracle has never been proved despite theologists and archaeologists desperately searching for proof of the Red Sea parting – until now.

Professors at the University of Arizona claim they have found the exact location of the Exodus using revolutionary technology.

Using hi-resolution, radiocarbon dating – a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material, by using the properties of radiocarbon – the team claims it can pinpoint where the miracle took place.

The scientists believe the Thera volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini – which archaeologists believe happened in the 16th Century BC – actually took place around a century earlier.

The new findings were backed up after experts performed carbon testing on an olive branch which was found beneath a lava flow, Breaking News Israel reports.

Scientists believe they can pinpoint where and when Moses parted the Red Sea in the story of Exodus
There is no definitive proof that Exodus took place

The evidence suggests the eruption coincided with the date theologists believe Exodus took place.

It would confirm Egyptologist Hans Goedicke’s theory that a number of events that occurred during the Egypt Exodus could be explained by the Mount Thera eruption.

Scientists claim a tsunami from the Mount Thera eruption may have caused the Red Sea to “part”

Mr Goedicke’s theory suggested the parting of the Red Sea – and its crashing down on the Egyptian army – could actually have been a tsunami caused by the Thera eruption.

But Dr Charlotte Pearson, was reluctant to say if the University’s findings could confirm the Exodus’ exact date.

Speaking to the Times of Israel, Dr Pearson said: “All I can say is that continued work to improve chronological frameworks is essential for the study of past civilisations.

“No definitive calibrated radiocarbon range or the Thera eruption is currently possible, but the altered position of the 14C plateau indicates that improved calibration has much to offer chronological synchronisation of human and environmental timelines in this period.”

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Ostrich eggs up to 7,500 years old found next to ancient fire pit in Israel

Ostrich eggs up to 7,500 years old found next to ancient fire pit in Israel

A well-known riddle compares an egg to treasure, asking: A box without hinges, key or a lid, yet inside golden treasure is hid. What am I?

And for archaeologists in Israel, eight prehistoric ostrich eggs – thought to be between 4,000 and 7,500 years old – proved as valuable as treasure when they were discovered near an ancient fire pit in the Negev, a desert region in the south of the country.

They were discovered during an archaeological excavation in the agricultural fields of Be’er Milka, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Thursday.

The eggs’ proximity to the fire pit suggests that they were collected intentionally by the prehistoric desert nomads who used the campsite, according to a press release from IAA, although further lab analysis will provide more information about their uses and age.

“We found a campsite, which extends over about 200 sq. m (2,153 square feet) that was used by the desert nomads since prehistoric times,” Lauren Davis, the IAA excavation director, said in the release.

“At the site we found burnt stones, flint and stone tools as well as pottery sherds, but the truly special find is this collection of ostrich eggs. Although the nomads did not build permanent structures at this site, the finds allow us to feel their presence in the desert.”

Davis added that the campsites were covered over by the dunes, keeping the eggs exceptionally well-preserved.

The IAA, which told CNN on Thursday the site had been excavated in the last week, said that ostriches were common in the region until they became extinct in the wild during the 19th century.

Their eggs were ornately decorated and were prized items among the elite circles of Mediterranean civilizations during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

The ostrich eggs were discovered near an ancient firepit.

As well as being used as decorative items, ostrich eggs were also used in funerals, as water canteens and as a source of food.

“We find ostrich eggs in archaeological sites in funerary contexts, and as luxury items and water-canteens. Naturally, they were used as a source of food: one ostrich egg has the nutritional value of about 25 normal chicken eggs,” said Amir Gorzalczany, senior research archaeologist from IAA, in the release.

“It is interesting, that whilst ostrich eggs are not uncommon in excavations, the bones of the large bird are not found. This may indicate that in the ancient world, people avoided tackling the ostrich and were content with collecting their eggs.”

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

Ancient Water System Unearthed in Central China

Ancient Water System Unearthed in Central China

Ancient Water System Unearthed in Central China
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.

The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.

The excavation on the Qianqiu Gate site of the ancient palace started in 2021, and the researchers later found the large-scale underground water channels beneath the gate site’s square.

So far, four water channels have been discovered, all stone culverts running side by side from southwest to northeast. The channels were confirmed to be built together and follow a unified construction planning, said Guo Xiaotao with the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Such water conservancy facilities with large-scale layouts and delicate designs are the first to be spotted during the excavation work on the Luoyang ancient city.

The manhole covers above the channels also have square holes to facilitate rainwater collection. The water channel ruins are believed to have introduced water sources outside into the palace city and then allowed the water to flow into lakes of the Xiyou Garden in the north of the imperial palace.

The facilities were likely part of the garden’s water diversion project inside the ancient capital city’s palace and later reused by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), said Liu Tao with the institute.

The discovery further explores the royal garden layout of Luoyang at that time and serves as a historical reference for modern urban water resource utilization, Liu added.

Luoyang city site, located in today’s Luoyang in Henan, has a history of over 1,500 years, while for about 600 years in its vast history, it served as the capital city for many dynasties in ancient China. 

This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Byzantine monk chained with iron rings unearthed near Jerusalem

Byzantine monk chained with iron rings unearthed near Jerusalem

Byzantine monk chained with iron rings unearthed near Jerusalem

A skeleton chained with iron rings was discovered at Khirbat el-Masani, about four kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, along the ancient route connecting Lod with Jerusalem via Nebi Samuel/Nabi Samwil.

The 1500-year-old skeleton, chained with iron rings, belonged to a Byzantine monk. No doubt, he wanted to achieve a very special goal and he indeed did it.

In the pursuit of salvation, atonement for sin, or spirituality, ascetic monks led a life marked by abstinence from sensual pleasures.

More extreme forms of asceticism included self-inflicted pain and voluntary suffering, chaining the body to rocks or keeping it in a cell, praying seated on a pillar in the elements, and solitary confinement.

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority previously discovered a tri-apsidal Byzantine-era church at Khirbat el-Masani, which was once a part of a monastery with a road inn for passing pilgrims.

The church is partly rock-cut and built using limestone ashlars (finely dressed stone), which may have been dedicated to Saint Zachary by the priest Sabinus.

In the past, the site was surveyed in the Jerusalem Survey Map, and a small excavation was conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Dr. Gaby Mazor, exposing the front part of two of the apses.

An extensive excavation carried out at the site in 2017, directed by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists Zubair Adoi and Kafir Arbiv and funded by Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation, uncovered a large architectural complex, comprising the monastery and road-inn and, most prominently, the church, enabling an understanding of the plan, construction methods and the date of the church.

Archaeologists recently found the skeleton of a monk, chained with iron rings around his neck, hands, and feet, was discovered in a cist grave next to two small niche-like closed cells in the central apse of the church.

The interred was probably an ascetic monk living in or near the church compound, who bore the chains as part of his devotion.

The practice originated in Syria in the 4th or 5th century AD, but the discovery of the burial shows that during the Byzantine period, this form of extreme asceticism spread as far south as the Jerusalem region.

While the discovery of a chain-clad skeleton is extremely rare in the region, an Israeli Antiquities Authority archaeologist Elena Kogan-Zehavi made a similar discovery in 1991 at Khirbat Tabaliya (Givat Ha-Matos), located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Remains of Byzantine monastery found near Jerusalem

Remains of Byzantine monastery found near Jerusalem

Remains of what archaeologists believe is a Byzantine monastery found near Beit Shemesh.

Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the remains of a Byzantine monastery outside the city of Beit Shemesh west of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday.

During the expansion of the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood, archaeologists conducted a survey of the location and found the remnants of an ancient walls and cisterns. Subsequent excavations of the site unearthed an oil press, wine press and mosaics.

The size and scale of the installations indicate that production was on an industrial scale, and that the residents relied upon the sale of wine and olive oil for their livelihood.

One of the mosaics found at the site bears colorful geometric designs, a cluster of grapes and flowers.

Although a church or inscription has yet to be found in the complex, archaeologists posit that the site was a Byzantine monastery, dating back some 1,500 years, based on the site’s style and dating.

Remains of Byzantine monastery found near Jerusalem
A mosaic found at what archaeologists believe is a Byzantine monastery found near Beit Shemesh.

“The impressive construction, the dating to the Byzantine period, the magnificent mosaic floors, window, and roof tile artifacts, as well as the agricultural-industrial installations inside the dwelling compound are all known to us from numerous other contemporary monasteries,” IAA excavation directors Irene Zilberbod and Tehila Libman said in a statement.

“Thus it is possible to reconstruct a scenario in which monks resided in a monastery that they established, made their living from the agricultural installations and dwelled in the rooms and carried out their religious activities.”

The new neighborhood will be constructed around the site and the archaeological remains will be preserved and developed as a landmark, the IAA said.

Aerial photo of remains that archaeologists believe were a Byzantine monastery found near Beit Shemesh.

Earlier this year archaeologists unearthed a Byzantine monastery near the entrance to the Bedouin village of Hura in the Negev Desert adorned with stunning mosaic floors.