Jerusalem Quarry Discovered Linked To Building Of Second Temple

An ancient quarry has been uncovered by construction crews in Jerusalem that, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority, can be traced back 2,300 years and may have been used to build of the Second Temple during Herod's rule. According to Jerusalem Post:

"The immense size of the stones indicates it was highly likely that the large stones that were quarried at the site were destined for use in the construction of [legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem King] Herod's magnificent projects in Jerusalem, including the Temple walls," [Israel Antiquities Authority's Dr. Ofer] Sion said.

Bloomberg has more of Dr. Sion's statement, where he conveys the implications of the quarry find and what role it had in what is now one of Israel's most holy sites--the Western Wall. From Bloomberg:

"Today, with the exposure of this quarry, the intensity of the building projects as described in the historical sources can be proven: Flavius Josephus wrote that before Herod built the Temple he prepared infrastructure for it by quarrying the stones for eight whole years," Sion said. Josephus was a Jewish historian born in 37 A.D.

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Comments

[BackToFight]

International archeologists constantly complain that Israeli archeologists and their discoveries are routinely used as propaganda to establish Israel's biblical claim in that region. I'm not saying that this is the case here, obviously I don't have the proper information to make that assessment, however I find it funny how this is immediately associated with the Second Temple without any proper research. For education's sake, they should allow non-biased international archeologists to research the find. For all we know, this can be the rock quarry of a completely different tribe or even the Romans. Not making any determinations, just saying...

[Jaywalkker]

Conversely, such things as the recently revealed Roman mosaic or the al-Aqsa mosque can also be used as propaganda to show that other civilizations can also lay claim to the land. Here's another fun historical, archive fact for Israel, the UN deliberations and decisions regarding the British Mandate and the 2 state barrier demarcations.

[Macready]

great observations BackToFight

[Macready]

ah . . . and the Jews of his time considered Herod a half Jew . .. and don't forget Herod was first appointed by Antony and retained by Augustus . . . so this is in effect a Roman quarry . . . .

and there is no historical evidence for the NT tale of the massacre of the innocents .. . Herod did a lot of crazy bloody things in the last years of his life . . but that does not appear to have been one of them . . .

[ModernTimes1]

It is an interesting and significant archeological find. Nothing more and nothing less. Those who obsessively try to deny Jewish roots In modern and Ancient Israel need not get so alarmed.

[Macready]

duh . . . these are Roman period . . . after 30BC the world belonged to Rome . . .israel was not a major power ever in the ancient world . . they had one brief moment but even the dates of that are questionable . . . . for most of the time they were vassal states . . they produced no art, architecture of any reknown . . . they got their building skills initially from Egypt . . . . just because something is over 2,000 years ago doesn't mean a lot when you are talking about ancient history .. . .

[Samlas]

Stones and Rocks are more important than humans in Israel's mind. So now because of this piece of stone the Palestinians will lose more land and be killed and violated. Just watch. History keeps repeating itself with these extremists.

[Joethepauper]

Great! Another reason to take more land from Palestinians! If they hadn't found it, they would have made something up. How long have people been living there, again? Thousands of years in the same cramped s#ithole and they don't know what's directly under their feet! Are they going to start building the third temple now? They're rocks! It's a bunch of old, huge rocks. Leave them there and build some Palestinian housing, since that land was stolen from them for this miraculous (ridiculous) discovery.

[ModernTimes1]

Ah, the ignorant and the uneducated amongst us always seem to have a lot to say.

[The Ghost]

Yes you do.

[amalfedup]

So they found a quarry in a land where many temples and walls have been built. How do they know what the rocks where used to build? Did they ask Solomon? Give me a break!!!!!

[eternalkerri]

they match the rock patterns and types.

its called forensic archaeology.

[Bitsko]

The marble was also used to build the McDonald's on the corner of Habad & David Streets.

[fbr79]

Palestinian supporter's heads explode everywhere.

[Bitsko]

Since when do Palestinian's deny ancient history?

[ModernTimes1]

This cannot be true!!! According to a prominent archeologist Arafat, the Temple is somewhere near Nablus.

[ChknFngr]

What are those anti-religious zealots going to say about this?

[TFlint]

How many anti-religious zealots you know claim that Israel didn't exist?

[TFlint]

They found the quarry for the second temple. Proof of God's existence?
They found the quarry for the Parthenon. Proof of Athena's existence?

[Joethepauper]

Rocks exist all over the globe. Sometimes those rocks are found in abundance and people cut them and build things with them. It's not proof of anything except the abundance of rocks. Athena, God, etc. are all figments of human imagination.

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

Just what does finding a quarry have to do with religion?

[samilli3]

2000 years from now, future generations will unearth computers....that will mean nothing.