As other incredible discoveries came to light from the Ophel through the intervening years, little did anyone realize that one discovery far more significant had already been found, just waiting to be understood.Ĭourtesy of Eilat Mazar, photographer Ouria Tadmorįinally, five years on, an epigraphist opened up the little box and examined the object more closely. And so for five years, it was boxed away, waiting. Nobody fully realized what it really was, what it said. And as that bucket was carefully sifted-first a dry sifting, and then a wet-even after the tiny, precious object buried within was discovered and cleaned, nobody paid it much attention. One of the greatest single items, surely, ever discovered throughout all Israel. It was a 2,700-year-old fill, located squarely within the ancient royal Ophel of Jerusalem.Īs one of the workers emptied a trowelful of dust and rocks into a bucket, little did he know that he had just transported from the ground what would be among the greatest discoveries ever made in Jerusalem. Such places are treasure troves to those interested in the past-almost nothing provides such a clear picture of a society as a garbage pit full of the various knick-knacks, odds and ends that show a snapshot of how an ancient civilization once functioned. The archaeologists worked furiously, deep within the ancient dump.
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