A "frozen time capsule" in Israel... a 2,100-year-old archaeological discovery
Archaeologists in Israel have discovered the remains of a 2,100-year-old farm that the owners likely abandoned in a hurry, possibly to avoid an imminent military invasion.
"We were very fortunate to discover a time capsule, frozen in time, in which the finds remained where the occupants of the site left them, near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel," archaeologist Amani Abu Hamid, who led the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement.
The excavators discovered ancient storage vessels still intact at the site, as well as loom weights on the shelf, suggesting that everyone who lived there left them behind when they quickly left.
"It seems that they left in a hurry in the face of imminent danger, perhaps the threat of a military attack," Abu Hamid said.
Archaeologists do not know who lived there, but it is likely that they were subjects of the Seleucid Empire who left to escape the conquest of the region by the forces of the Hasmonean kingdom - an independent Jewish kingdom based in Jerusalem to the south.
Abu Hameed says: "We know from historical sources that during this period the Judean Hasmonean kingdom expanded in Galilee, and it is possible that the farm was abandoned in the wake of these events."
The team also found agricultural tools, such as iron sickles, at the site, as well as coins that dated tentatively to the second half of the second century BC.
Little is known about daily life during the Hasmonean period, and virtually nothing is known about the people who lived on the farm, and more research is required to determine the identity of the site's inhabitants, according to an Antiquities Authority statement.
Excavations have also revealed traces of an earlier settlement at the site, including buildings and pottery from the 9th and 10th centuries BC. According to the Times of Israel, the pottery pieces were initially dated according to their style, and organic samples were sent for carbon isotope dating. 14.
Archaeologists found the ancient farm at a site called Khorbat al-Assad, east of Lake Tiberias, during the excavation of a planned $270 million water pipeline from the Mediterranean coast.
The new pipeline is part of a desalination project that will provide fresh water to agricultural land in Israel and neighboring countries.
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