8 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists Find Mysterious 2,800-year-old Channels in Jerusalem

Archaeologists excavating in Jerusalem have uncovered a network of mysterious channels dating back to the days of King Joash and Amaziah, some 2,800 years old.

The installations are the first of their kind ever discovered in Israel, the IAA said in an announcement Wednesday. The national park in which the structures were found contains the City of David archaeological site—considered by most scholars to be the location of the original settlement at Jerusalem.

The grooves, cut into the bedrock, were likely used to soak some kind of product, though it is unclear what exactly the ancient Jerusalemites were making there, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University said in a statement Wednesday.

Forensic testing of the ducts found no blood, suggesting that they were not used for animal slaughter. The ducts also do not appear to have been designed to carry a large volume of water.

The ancient structures are the first of their kind ever discovered in Israel, according to the country’s antiquity’s authority. Image Credit: IAA

There is no known parallel for such a structure in Israel, so the researchers say they can only speculate on its purpose. Their central location indicates that the product was connected to the Palace or Temple economy.

The structures were in use when the city’s First Temple was thought to have existed, researchers said.

Excavations conducted by the IAA and Tel Aviv University in the City of David National Park have so far uncovered two installations just over 30 feet (10 meters)apart, which may have been part of one large installation.

Despite some differences in the way the two channels were hewn and designed, it is clear that both are quite similar, the IAA said.

Archaeologists excavating the channel installations found in Jerusalem. Image credit: IAA

Channels are knee-deep and stand in two clusters, 10 meters apart. They are made of hewn rock and are about 30 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters high. They are not connected to any other water sources, and they do not appear to have been used for drainage or sewage disposal.

“The mystery only grew deeper when we found the second installation to the south,” Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University’s Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Department said in a statement.

“We looked at the installation and realized that we had stumbled on something unique, but since we had never seen a structure like this in Israel, we didn’t know how to interpret it,” Yiftah Shalev, a senior researcher at the IAA, said in a statement. “Even its date was unclear.”

Image credit: IAA

Researchers have managed to date when the installations fell out of use—at the end of the 9th century B.C. during the days of the biblical Judean kings Joash and Amaziah.

The area where the ducts are located was formerly occupied by a sizable industrial and residential complex. As a result, it is possible that the ducts were used for a variety of activities, such as the manufacture of textiles, the production of food, and religious rituals.

The discovery of the ducts is a mystery, but it is an important one. It provides new insights into the ancient city of Jerusalem and its people. The ducts are an unusual discovery that is assisting archaeologists in better understanding Jerusalem’s history.

IAA

Cover Photo: IAA/Facebook

Related Articles

Britain’s Hidden Treasures: The Pieces of Rare Iron Age Helmet Found at Snettisham

19 January 2025

19 January 2025

Thanks to advanced scientific testing, the copper alloy fragments unearthed at Snettisham, Norfolk, at one of Britain’s most significant archaeological...

A rare Ogham inscription found on Pictish stone in Scottish Kirkyard

8 November 2022

8 November 2022

A Pictish carved stone cross slab with a rare inscription in the early medieval ogham language has been discovered in...

The First Dinosaurs Discovered in Japan From the Late Cretaceous Period

30 April 2021

30 April 2021

Yamatosaurus Izanagii, a new genus, and species of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur have been discovered on one of Japan’s southern...

Evidence of textile manufacture dating back millennia was found in an area famous for the Witney Blanket

12 June 2023

12 June 2023

Archaeological excavations at the site of Oxfordshire County Council’s project to build the A40 Science Transit Park and Ride at...

Largest Headhunting Massacre of Women and Children in Neolithic China

12 November 2023

12 November 2023

A new study discovers that ancient headless skeletons discovered in mass graves in China are the remains of victims who...

2,500-Year-Old Tombs Uncovered Of Unknown Persons With Gold Tongues in Egypt

6 December 2021

6 December 2021

The remains of two unknown persons with golden tongues were found inside tombs, dating back to the Saite Dynasty (664...

Feline and anthropomorphic 29 new geoglyphs discovered in Peru

21 December 2023

21 December 2023

In Ica, a region south of Lima on the coast of Peru, 29 geoglyphs were found by an archaeologist from...

Archeologists find a 3,500-year-old mosaic in central Turkey

16 September 2021

16 September 2021

Archaeologists have discovered a 3,500-year-old mosaic in central Turkey, which might be one of the world’s oldest. The impressive power...

1,600-year-old Hunnic double burial found in Poland

15 June 2024

15 June 2024

In 2018, archaeologists uncovered a 1,600-year-old double burial in the village of Czulice near Krakow, Poland, containing the remains of...

Water Cultu in Hittites and Eflatunpınar Hittite Water Monument

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

The Hittites, which left their mark on the Bronze Age period in Anatolia, is a society that draws attention with...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...

11,000-Year-Old LSU Campus Mounds Are Oldest Known Human-Made Structures In North America

23 August 2022

23 August 2022

According to new research published in the American Journal of Science, two six-meter (20-foot) high mounds on the campus of...

Flint tools found in Tunel Wielki Cave, Poland, about half a million years old

9 October 2022

9 October 2022

Flint tools discovered over 50 years ago in the Tunel Wielki Cave (Maopolskie region) are not tens of thousands of...

Neanderthals of the North

13 May 2022

13 May 2022

Were Neanderthals really as well adapted to life in the cold as previously assumed, or did they prefer more temperate...

In the “Siberian Valley of the Kings”, archaeologists have discovered a burial mound containing ornate treasures dating back 2,500 years

20 January 2022

20 January 2022

A Polish-Russian team of archaeologists, excavating in the “Siberian Valley of the Kings” have announced the discovery of a burial...