50 meters dug into the living rockwith a height that in some places exceeds 5 meters: this is the route of the discovery of a mysterious tunnel discovered near the kibbutz Ramat Rachelon the southern outskirts of Jerusalem. A rare discovery that, instead of answering the questions of scholars, opens new ones. But that’s why this news is so important.
The mysterious tunnel discovered in Jerusalem
U archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority were carrying out preliminary excavations on rocky and exposed terrain, in view of the construction of a new residential district promoted by the The Territorial Authority of Israelwhen they saw what appeared to be a simple natural karst cavity. The excavation continued and the cavity was not finished.
U Dr. Sivan Mizrahi and Zinovi Matskevichthe directors of the excavation, said that as they advanced, the opening revealed a tunnel. Some parts have collapsed and therefore all their secrets have not yet emerged.
The original access was via a staircase carved into the rock, which descended into an opening and from there led into the underground corridor. Inside, layers and layers of soil accumulated over centuries. The tunnel was found substantially intact in its structure, which makes the absolute silence it leaves behind even more strange: no objects, no ceramic fragments, nothing that could help us date it or understand what it was.
The one who built it created a construction 3 meters wide and 5 meters high with great precision excavation work.
Why find things
The strong point is not only the tunnel itself but the context in which it is inserted.
They are a few hundred meters away as the crow flies two sites of prime importance: the remains of a Iron Age public building in the neighborhood Arnonan era that corresponds to the period of the First Temple, and TRamat Rachelone of the most studied archeology sitesIsraelwith traces of settlement ranging from the Iron Age to the Islamic period. The proximity is suggestive, but so far it proves nothing.
U hypotheses are accumulated and they were discarded one after another.
A water infrastructure? The walls are not plastered, and there are no known aquifers in that area. An agricultural installation or underground industrial? The scale of the work does not square with this reading, and there are no similar comparisons nearby.
U currently the most accredited theory from the same researchers is that the tunnel pointed towards one layer of plasteruseful for the extraction of construction material or for the production of lime. In support of this hypothesis, there would be a well dug in the roof, which could have functioned as a ventilation system, and some excavation debris found in the floor. But it is still being examined by scholars.
He point What Re’emdistrict archaeologist of Jerusalem for the Israel Antiquities Authority, he framed the discovery with words that well convey the nature of this city. He stated that usually there are already clear explanations for the discoveries made, but sometimes we are left stunned, as in this case.
After all, Jerusalem is a city that never ceases to amaze, just think of the most recent discoveries like the crazy discovery under the 2000 year old Western Wall or one unique message from 2,700 years ago. Precisely for this reason, any construction site or construction could reveal something that we do not yet know.