10,000-year-old house uncovered outside Jerusalem

Thought some here would find this interesting. The Israel Antiquities Authority just announced the discovery of the oldest structure yet found in the Judean lowlands - a 10,000 year old house - as well as other structures, including a 6000 year old 'cultic temple.'

A remarkable archaeological find in the Judean lowlands southwest of Jerusalem includes a six-millennia-old cultic temple and a 10,000-year-old house.

The ancient sites were located in routine archaeological digs conducted ahead of a planned expansion of Route 38, the main access road to Beit Shemesh. The building is the oldest ever found in the area, and constitutes remarkable “evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings,” researchers said Monday.

Labeling it “a fascinating glimpse into thousands of years of human development,” the Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the Netivei Israel Company that is carrying out the highway expansion, invited the public to visit the excavation site in Eshtaol on Wednesday, November 27.

“Settlement remains were unearthed at the site, the earliest of which dates to the beginning of the eighth millennium BCE and latest to the end of the fourth millennium BCE,” the authority said in a statement Monday.

“We uncovered a multitude of unique finds during the excavation,” said Amir Golani, one of the excavators for the Antiquities Authority. “The large excavation affords us a broad picture of the progression and development of the society in the settlement throughout the ages. Thus we can clearly see that in the Early Bronze Age, 5,000 years ago, a rural society made the transition to an urban society. We can see distinctly a settlement that gradually became planned, which included [streets] and buildings that were extremely impressive from the standpoint of their size and the manner of their construction. We can clearly trace the urban planning and see the guiding hand of the settlement’s leadership that chose to regulate the construction in the crowded regions in the center of the settlement and allowed less planning along its periphery.”

The finds allow the researchers to “trace the development of a society which became increasingly hierarchical,” Golani said.

The oldest building found dates from the time of the earliest known domestication of plants and animals.

“Whoever built the house did something that was totally innovative because up until this period [local human groups] migrated from place to place in search of food. Here we have evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings, and that in fact is the beginning of the domestication of animals and plants; instead of searching out wild sheep, ancient man started raising them near the house,” researchers said in a statement.

The researchers included Golani, Ya‘akov Vardi, Benyamin Storchan and Ron Be’eri, who serve as excavation directors for the Antiquities Authority.

The house is the oldest structure ever found in the Judean lowlands, they said, dating back to the period known to archaeologists as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

“The building, almost all of which was found, underwent a number of construction and repair phases that allude to its importance,” they said.

Near the building, excavators found a collection of nine flint and limestone axes placed side by side.

“It is apparent that the axes, some of which were used as tools and some as cultic objects, were highly valued by their owners. Just as today we are unable to get along without a cellular telephone and a computer, they too attributed great importance to their tools. Based on how it was arranged at the time of its discovery it seems that the cluster of axes was abandoned by its owner for some unknown reason,” the researchers concluded.

But the building wasn’t the only find at the site. A handful of buildings from the end of the Chalcolithic period, some 6,000 years ago, was found nearby. At the site, excavators found a six-sided stone column standing some 1.3 meters (51 inches) high and weighing several hundred kilos.

“The standing stone was smoothed and worked on all six of its sides,” the archaeologists said, explaining that its broad face was oriented eastward and concluding that the find ”alludes to the presence of a cultic temple at the site.”

“In the past, numerous manifestations have been found of the cultic practice that existed in the Chalcolithic period. However, from the research, we know of only a few temples” located at Ein Gedi and Teleilat Ghassul in present-day Jordan.

SOURCE: Times of Israel

If the dating is accurate, that would make this almost as old as Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, which dates to approximately 11,000 years ago according to Wikipedia.

There are some photos of the excavations in the news article and in the Israel Antiquities Authority press release, but I can't seem to find the option to upload them since the ATS site design change. Maybe someone else knows how to add them?

Wait wait wait...

You mean the Earth isn't 6000 years old???

Cool find.

ETA: to upload click on the down arrow near the top right. It will have an uploads option, then go from there.

reply to post by ikonoklast


Nice catch and thanks for sharing. My Anthro instructor is out in Israel on a regular basis, working old ruins and finding the mysteries which history has left for us. I imagine she'll be familiar with the area, if not the specific site. I'll pass this along though. It might make her day if I'm the first she hears it from.

Very good find, S&F.

Wrabbit2000
reply to post by ikonoklast

 

Nice catch and thanks for sharing. My Anthro instructor is out in Israel on a regular basis, working old ruins and finding the mysteries which history has left for us. I imagine she'll be familiar with the area, if not the specific site. I'll pass this along though. It might make her day if I'm the first she hears it from.

You're welcome. Good timing maybe... They are going to open the excavation to the public for free this Wednesday. Maybe your Anthro instructor can visit since she's in the area. Here is the info:

The Israel Antiquities Authority and Netivei Israel Company will open the impressive excavation to the visiting public for free this coming Wednesday, November 27, 2013, between the hours of 14:00 and 16:00. Visitors must register in advance by telephone at 02-99122366 / 052-4284408 or by email to [email protected]

Israel Antiquities Authority Press Release

Chamberf=6
Wait wait wait...

You mean the Earth isn't 6000 years old???

Cool find.

ETA: to upload click on the down arrow near the top right. It will have an uploads option, then go from there.

edit on 11/25/2013 by Chamberf=6 because: (no reason given)

Why? Because of that ever so accurate carbon testing? (eyes rolling)....

Not saying the earth is only 6,000 years old but carbon testing and their "other" methods are about as crazy as you claiming anything different.....Point being, they hold no merit.

I can state something is 100,000 to 2 million years old and you can't prove me otherwise, you just believe it like they want you to....

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


You think Carbon Dating is B.s?

MrCasas
reply to post by Chrisfishenstein

 

You think Carbon Dating is B.s?

No, I don't think.....It isn't accurate, instead of posting millions of links take a look....Don't believe everything "science" has to offer.

Here this is only one of millions of links to the incredible flaws in carbon dating:

"It may come as a shock to some, but fewer than 50 percent of the radiocarbon dates from geological and archaeological samples in northeastern North America have been adopted as `acceptable' by investigators."—*J. Ogden III, "The Use and Abuse of Radiocarbon," in Annals of the New York Academy of Science, Vol. 288, 1977, pp. 167-173.

www.pathlights.com...

There are different kinds of carbon dating, but the results all still remain closely the same....Inaccurate

Don't take anything you read as truth until you investigate further into it.....Not saying this story is right or wrong, but when carbon dating is the "proof" I will stop listening there....

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein

I can state something is 100,000 to 2 million years old and you can't prove me otherwise, you just believe it like they want you to....

Depending on the material you can be easily proven wrong. Simply because the tech we use now is better than thirty year old tech.

buster2010
reply to post by Chrisfishenstein

 

I can state something is 100,000 to 2 million years old and you can't prove me otherwise, you just believe it like they want you to....

Depending on the material you can be easily proven wrong. Simply because the tech we use now is better than thirty year old tech.

So the carbon is better dated now? The machines are more accurate? Technology won't improve the accuracy of carbon dating....It is a flawed system. Very flawed....Regardless of the technology dating the carbon

Chrisfishenstein
Not saying this story is right or wrong, but when carbon dating is the "proof" I will stop listening there....

edit on 11/25/2013 by Chrisfishenstein because: (no reason given)

edit on 11/25/2013 by Chrisfishenstein because: (no reason given)

For what it's worth, I don't see any mention of carbon dating in the Times of Israel article nor the press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority mentions carbon dating nor in my OP.

Actually, I don't see any reference to how the site was dated at all, other than what you can imply from comments that the site is from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic pottery. Anticipating someone would be offended for religious or other reasons, I even said "If the dating is accurate..."

Date arguments aside, it seems to be a pretty cool find of what may be the oldest buildings in that area and may even be among some of the oldest such buildings yet found in the world.

That does not look like a house for giants.
I thought they defeated giants in order to take the Promise Land?

reply to post by ikonoklast

Actually, I don't see any reference to how the site was dated at all, other than what you can imply from comments that the site is from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic pottery. Anticipating someone would be offended for religious or other reasons, I even said "If the dating is accurate..."
Date arguments aside, it seems to be a pretty cool find of what may be the oldest buildings in that area and may even be among some of the oldest such buildings yet found in the world.

Very good point.

i was wondering how a cool find turned into a debate on the merits of a dating method not even mentioned in the OP or sources.

Chamberf=6
ETA: to upload click on the down arrow near the top right. It will have an uploads option, then go from there

Thanks. I tried this and successfully uploaded the photos to my library, but when I click the icon to "insert an image from your library" the tool finds none to insert. I'm not sure why. I used to be able to insert photos into posts. Weird. But people can see the photos in the original article on the Times of Israel.

Chrisfishenstein

buster2010
reply to post by Chrisfishenstein

 

I can state something is 100,000 to 2 million years old and you can't prove me otherwise, you just believe it like they want you to....

Depending on the material you can be easily proven wrong. Simply because the tech we use now is better than thirty year old tech.

So the carbon is better dated now? The machines are more accurate? Technology won't improve the accuracy of carbon dating....It is a flawed system. Very flawed....Regardless of the technology dating the carbon

Was it a 'science' guy who told you this?

Don't believe everything 'science' guys tell you. Oh wait.

reply to post by ikonoklast


You have three sections to your library.

you need to move the image from the default upload area, which is the one it appears in when you upload it. Click the image, then click the cloud picture next to the smiley face above the popout image.

It will then appear in the insertable images when composing a post.

but its just easier to copy and paste the PIC tags from the popout image and paste that into your post.

for example, if you quote my post you will see the pic tags and the image name within it.

Just copy and paste that from the image you want to embed. I find that this image is appropriate for the poster who thought that btc would crash.. lol it's gone up over $300 since that image. Ahh end of off topic.

winofiend
You have three sections to your library.

you need to move the image from the default upload area, which is the one it appears in when you upload it. Click the image, then click the cloud picture next to the smiley face above the popout image.

It will then appear in the insertable images when composing a post.

but its just easier to copy and paste the PIC tags from the popout image and paste that into your post...

Just copy and paste that from the image you want to embed.

Thanks! So here is the picture of the house that is being excavated, which archaeologists said is "the oldest dwelling unearthed to date in the Judean lowlands:"


(photo credit Dr. Ya‘akov Vardi, Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority.)
From Times of Israel

And here is the picture of the standing stone (mazzevā), which archaeologists said is "worked on all of its sides, serving as evidence of cultic activity in the Chalcolithic period:"


(photo credit: Zinobi Moskowitz, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
From Times of Israel

reply to post by Chamberf=6


no... it is still 6000 yo
that house was just being planted by Satan and his minions, a while ago

peace.

Chamberf=6
Wait wait wait...

You mean the Earth isn't 6000 years old???

Cool find.

ETA: to upload click on the down arrow near the top right. It will have an uploads option, then go from there.

edit on 11/25/2013 by Chamberf=6 because: (no reason given)

no Palestinians?

so whose house was it?