Jerusalem Unearths an Ancient Quarry: A Glimpse into Second Temple Times

Jerusalem's well-known tech industry area is called "Har Hotzvim," but not everyone knows why. Last week, during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority, a testament to the name's meaning was uncovered: a vast, ancient quarry, potentially from the Second Temple period, about two thousand years ago.

The quarry, partially exposed, covers an area of around 600 square meters, though it likely spans two to three times that size. The building stones discovered there are particularly large: 1.5 by 2 meters. The quarry offers a clear view of all stages of stone extraction and processing.

(Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Moran Hagbi, who led the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: "The grand construction projects of ancient Jerusalem, like the Temple Mount, required a vast amount of building materials and the capability to organize and coordinate the extraction and transportation of thousands of building stones to the Old City."

"Thus, large and square stone blocks were also unearthed just before they were detached from the bedrock, ready to be loaded and transported to the Old City. For us archaeologists, this quarry is a golden opportunity: the fact that some stones were left on site allows us to study, through practical experience and imitation of ancient techniques, the process of extracting building stones."

The archaeologists and conservation experts of the Israel Antiquities Authority now plan to attempt and recreate the ancient methods used to detach stone blocks, even testing the efficiency of known methods from the texts. This will be done by crafting stone-cutting tools specifically for the experiment, mimicking tools that have been uncovered in the past.

(Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)

In previous years, excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in northern Jerusalem revealed many stone quarries, as well as the tools used to detach stones from their locations in the quarry. These quarries stretch over a vast area, north of the Old City, and are indeed a unique phenomenon. They served primarily because of the topography and the quality of the stone, as the main source of building stones for the grand construction projects carried out in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period and other eras.

According to the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Eli Eskosido, "Symbolically, Jerusalem's current development boom is what allows us to uncover and explore the great construction projects of ancient Jerusalem. Before any new construction initiative begins in the Old City of Jerusalem, our archaeologists are committed to digging and investigating ancient finds for the sake of future generations."