Mysterious First Temple find outside Bethlehem!
Excerpts of article in the timesofisrael.com
A mysterious First Temple-era archaeological find under a Palestinian Arab orchard near Bethlehem is increasingly gaining attention — despite attempts to keep it quiet.
In February, a tour guide leading a group through an underground tunnel in the rural West Bank, not far from Jerusalem, was surprised to stumble upon the remains of a unique carved pillar.
The pillar matched monumental construction from the 9th or 8th centuries BCE — the time of the First Temple in Jerusalem. That signaled the presence of an important and previously unknown structure from that period.
The remains are in the politically charged West Bank, on the outskirts of an Arab village and on land privately owned by a Palestinian — all reasons the Israeli government might deem attempting an excavation there a major political headache to be avoided.
When it became clear that antiquities officials did not intend to excavate what he believed to be a potentially huge find, the tour guide, Binyamin Tropper went to the Hebrew press, where several reports have appeared on inside pages in recent weeks.
Tropper has kept the location secret to avoid attracting the attention of antiquities thieves.
Early this month, several prominent Israeli archaeologists were brought to inspect the site. Among them was Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeology professor from Hebrew University.
There is no doubt the remains are those of monumental construction from the time of the First Temple, Garfinkel said.
The top of the pillar, known as a capital, is of a type known as proto-aeolic, he said. That style dates to around 2,800 years ago.
The pillar marks the entrance to a carved water tunnel reaching 250 yards underground, he said, complex construction that would almost certainly have been carried out by a central government. At the time, the area was ruled by Judean kings in nearby Jerusalem.
In its scale and workmanship, Garfinkel said, the tunnel evokes another grand water project of First Temple times — the Siloam Tunnel in Jerusalem, now underneath the modern-day Arab neighborhood of Silwan. That project is believed to have been undertaken by the biblical king Hezekiah to channel water into the city ahead of an Assyrian siege in the 8th century BCE, according to an account in the biblical Book of Kings.
The existence of a large water tunnel at the new site suggests the presence nearby of a large farm or palace, Garfinkel said.
“The construction is first-rate,” he said. “There is definitely something important there from biblical times, the 9th or 8th centuries BCE.”
Tropper, the guide, said he hoped interest from professional archaeologists would prod the government to conduct an excavation. The site could be a source of income for the Palestinian owners and the nearby village, he suggested.
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