This Tuesday, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery of well-preserved artifacts during an excavation in the main drainage canal that ran under the streets of ancient Jerusalem.
According to IAA experts, the series of finds offer a unique view of the city at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.
While the canal was regularly cleaned by municipal authorities, archaeologists found it to be filled with sediment, indicating a gradual abandonment of city maintenance, which may relate to the account of the process of destruction of Jerusalem.
Among the things found, some of the most striking are a delicate, almost perfectly preserved glass jar, coins and several small oil lamps with traces of soot.
Furthermore, the discovery of a wide variety of pots and plates allows for better precision of the products that the city's merchants had for sale in that period.
Food remains such as seeds, cereal grains, egg shells and fish bones were also extracted, from which new laboratory tests will be carried out.
Ayelet Zilberstein, responsible for the excavation, explained that “the small finds tell us a great story, from the height of prosperity and splendor of Jerusalem, when its streets bustled with life, until the moments of decline of the city during the rebellion against the Romans, and its total abandonment after the destruction of the Temple and the city.