Discovery of ancient village in Jerusalem - Isreal!

Just beneath the main road leading north from Jerusalem, archaeologists have found the walls of houses in a well-planned community that existed after the temple's destruction. It might lead to rewriting the history books if it was really Jewish. But at least one expert isn't sure it was.

The discovery of stone vessels indicate Jews in the village continued to live by religious purity laws after 70 A.D., reported by Debbie Sklar-Parnes, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is overseeing the dig.

This is the first evidence that Jews lived so close to Jerusalem - about a mile away - after the destruction of the Second Temple, Sklar-Parnes said.

According to historical records, the settlement was on the main Roman road between Jerusalem and Nazareth. Later, the Turks built a road in the same place and Jordan constructed a road on top of that early in the 20th century. Finally, Israel paved it after its capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

Stein Morten Lund, 6 January 2006

Additional information

More discoveries in Jerusalem:
In August 2005, the famed Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar, guided by the Bible, believes she has uncovered the palace of King David outside Jerusalem's Old City. Others disagree. It`s a important discovery, but critics say her find is more recent and not the palace. Read more on Jerusalem Newswire: Discovery of ancient building.

Another great discovery was for a long time ago, the discovery of Peter's Tomb in Jerusalem in 1953. It was one of the greatest discoveries since the time of Christ. It gave evidence for that that Peter was buried in Jerusalem and not in Rome.

Based on extensive excavation work in the area around Jerusalem, we believe there will be more great discoveries in the coming years.

Read our articles and travel tales about unique adventures Isreal on our global travelguide: www.TravelExplorations.com.