Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed 2,100-year-old remains of a property whose owners probably left it in a hurry, presumably to avoid an impending military invasion.
“We were very lucky to discover a time capsule, frozen in time, in which the finds remained where they were left by the inhabitants of a location near the northern Israeli Sea of Galilee,” said archaeologist Amani Abu-Hamid, who is leading the excavation. The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement.
Excavators discovered ancient, still intact jars for storage on the site, as well as weights for weaving looms on the shelves, which suggests that the one who lived there left them when they left quickly.
“They seem to have left in a hurry faced with the impending danger, probably the threat of a military attack,” Abu Hamid said.
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Archaeologists do not know who lived there, but it is possible that they were subjects of the Seleucid Empire who went to avoid an invasion of the area by forces of the Hasmonean Kingdom - an independent Jewish kingdom based in Jerusalem in the south.
“We know from historical sources that the Hasmonean kingdom of Judea expanded to Galilee in that period, and it is possible that the rural estate was abandoned after these events,” Abu Hamid said.
The team also found agricultural tools at the site, such as arms and braids made of iron, as well as coins that are dated to the second half of the second century BC.
Little is known about everyday life during the Hasmonean period, and almost nothing is known about the people who lived on the property, the IAA said in a statement. But the large number of weights for the loom indicates that weaving was an important task, so the tenants probably kept flocks of sheep or goats. “More research is needed to determine the identity of the residents of the site,” Abu Hamid said.
Excavations have also revealed traces of a much earlier settlement on the site, including the foundations of buildings and pottery that appear to date from the 9th and 10th centuries BC. The Times of Israel (opens in new tab), pottery items were originally dated according to style; in the meantime, organic samples were sent carbon-14 dating.
Archaeologists have found an ancient farm at a site called Horbat Assad, east of the Sea of Galilee, during investigations ahead of a planned $ 270m aqueduct off the Mediterranean coast. The new pipeline is part of a desalination project that will deliver fresh water to agricultural land in Israel and neighboring countries.
Ancient land
Before the rise of the Hasmonean kingdom, the Seleucids ruled the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah as a client kingdom; many Jews returned there from exile in Babylon, and were allowed to practice their religion - although many Hellenistic characteristics were added to the Jewish culture of the time, according to Encyclopedia Britannica (opens in new tab).
However, in 168 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes took direct control of Judea after an attempted coup against him. A first-century Jewish historian Joseph wrote (opens in new tab) that he killed and enslaved thousands of people during the attack on Jerusalem, confiscated land and other property, and forced Jews to eat pork, work on the Sabbath, and stop circumcising their sons.
What seemed to be the last straw for the people of Judea was that Antiochus introduced the Greek polytheistic religion into the monotheistic Jewish temple in Jerusalem, including the sacrificial altar to Zeus Olympias; and in 167 BC the Jews rebelled against the Seleucids in what became known as the Maccabean Rebellion - so named after the early leader, the Jewish priest Judas Maccabeus, after Joseph; his name in Hebrew may have meant “Hammer.”
By 134 BC, the Maccabees had gained independence from the Seleucids and established a Jewish Hasmonean kingdom throughout the region; but fell to the invasion Novel forces under Gnaeus Pompey Magnus - known as Pompey the Great in English - 63 BC, after which Herod the Great was enthroned as a Roman client-king.
The remains of the Hasmonean estate in Horbat Assad will now be preserved, the statement said.
Originally published on Live Science.