The Israel Antiquities Authority, in co-operation with the Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation, announced today its recent discovery of a pyramid-shaped flight of stairs, which archeologists believe was built some 2,000 years ago.
Found in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem, the stairs are made entirely of hewn stone and lead up to a distinctive podium. According to archeologists Nahshon Zenton and Joe Uziel, who directed the excavation, the structure resembles nothing previously discovered in the Israeli capital.
As reported by Ynet News, the stairs are from the Second Temple era, believed to have been used by pilgrims going from the Pool of Siloam to the temple, and located near a large stone road built in the fourth decade of the first century CE. Artifacts located above the structure indicate that they were from the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans, which led to the eventual destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
At the base of the stairs archeologists found stone tools, glassware, and pottery fragments.
"The structure exposed next to the road is singular," explained Zenton and Uziel. "We have never found anything like it in the many digs that have occurred in Jerusalem, and as far as we know even outside of Jerusalem, and because of that it's difficult to state its purpose with certainty."
Zenton and Uziel believe that the structure was used as a podium in order to attract attention from locals. "It's interesting to ask what was announced here – were messages from the government declared? Perhaps news and juicy gossip, or rebukes and street classes?"
Though part of the structure was originally discovered in the 19th century by British archeologists Frederick Bliss and Archibald Dickie, the two had maintained that it was an entrance to the Second Temple. With this new evidence in mind, Uziel and Zenton have rebuked this theory, and will share their findings at an Ir David Foundation conference on Thursday.
