Ancient quarry uncovered in Jerusalem

An ancient quarry covering approximately one dunam and dating back to the end of the Second Temple period was uncovered during excavations on Shmuel Hanavi Street in Jerusalem ahead of the construction of residential buildings, Israel Antiquities Authority said on Monday. According to Dr. Ofer Sion of the Authority, who directed the dig along with Yehuda Rapuano, the 2,300 year-old site was probably the source of the stones used to build the Second Temple walls. "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," Sion said.

"We know from historical sources that in order to build the Temple and other projects which Herod constructed, such as his palace, hundreds of thousands of various-size stones were required - most of them weighing between two and five tons", Sion continued, noting that the exposure of this quarry verifies the historic accounts of the intensity of Herod's building projects as described by Flavius Josephus. Among the artifacts discovered at the site were metal plates, referred to in the Talmud as 'cheeks,' which were used as fulcrums to severe the stones from the bedrock, as well as coins and pottery shards that date to the first century BCE, the end of the Second Temple period.