Sunday, September 9, 2007

Second Temple Period Drainage Canal Unveiled

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B"H

What happened to the court injuction that was supposed to be going on last week? Does anyone know why that has never been reported on? Was it cancelled, postponed? What???

M
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http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/133014

(IsraelNN.com) Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation unveiled an important remnant of life in ancient Jerusalem on Sunday. The main drainage canal of the holy city, dated around the first century CE, before the destruction of Second Temple and the City of Jerusalem, was displayed for the first time to journalists near the entrance to the City of David.

The 70-meter long segment is located between the Temple Mount and the Siloam Pool and stretched underneath the main street of the Old City. The drain carried rainwater from the area of the Western Wall now used as the Jewish Quarter, and the western area of the City of David, to the Kidron River near the Dead Sea. Shards and coins were also found at the site. Archaeologsts Roni Reich and Eli Shukrun said they had to dig 10 meters deep in order to reach the main street. They added that Jews hid in the drain on their way to the southern gate of the Old City as they fled the Roman siege, according to the account of the period by the historian Josephus.

The IAA has, however, blocked archaeologists from inspecting a ditch being dug by the Wakf (Arab Religious Authority) with heavy machinery on the Temple Mount that may be of equal importance. Vehement insistence by the archaeologists that precious artifacts from the Second Temple period are being destroyed by the construction have been met with silence. Photos snapped surreptiously, despite police attempts to block entry to the site, show chunks of stone that appear to be part of a wall from the era.

1 comment:

  1. A fascinating item, but what it doesn't mention is that the escape tunnel discovery strikingly confirms University of Chicago historian Norman Golb's theory, now supported by an entire series of Israeli researchers, that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the remains of Jerusalem libraries, smuggled out of the city for hiding during the Roman siege of 70 A.D. Golb has specifically argued that Jews removed the scrolls from the city through tunnels and brought them down to the Dead Sea area via the Kidron valley--precisely where this tunnel is thought to have exited.

    This also puts a spotlight on a current controversy involving a major exhibition of the Scrolls taking place in San Diego. Pursuant to an agreement reached with Christian evangelist "bible scholars," the San Diego Natural History Museum has excluded all of the researchers who have rejected the old "Qumran-Essene" theory of scroll origins from participating in its lecture series and, in the exhibit itself, has intentionally misinformed the public concerning the grounds supporting the Jerusalem theory.

    For further information, see the posting entitled "Chronology of Dead Sea Scrolls controversy in San Diego" on Wordpress, and the articles by Charles Gadda on the Nowpublic site, in particular the one entitled "Christian fundamentalism and the Dead Sea Scrolls in San Diego."

    Follow Gadda's links for his other articles too, they expose a truly outrageous scandal.

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