Remains of 9,000-year-old Neolithic settlement unearthed outside Jerusalem
Source: CNN
Remains of 9,000-year-old Neolithic settlement unearthed outside Jerusalem
Updated 17th July 2019
Written by
Oscar Holland, CNN
A huge Stone Age settlement unearthed outside Jerusalem may have been home to 3,000 people, the Neolithic equivalent of a large city, according to details released by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday.
Believed to have been inhabited 9,000 years ago, the site has yielded thousands of tools and ornaments, including arrowheads, figurines and jewelry. The findings also provide evidence of sophisticated urban planning and farming, which may force experts to rethink the region's early history, said archeologists involved in the excavation.
The discovery was made near the Israeli town of Motza, about three miles west of Jerusalem. Although the area has long been of archeological interest, excavation director Jacob Vardi said the sheer scale of the site -- which measures between 30 and 40 hectares -- only emerged in 2015 during surveys for a proposed highway.
Archeologists have since found a large collection of buildings just below the ground's surface. As well as private homes, the excavation revealed the remnants of public facilities and spaces used for rituals and burials.
Describing the site as the largest of its kind "not just in Israel but in the Southern Levant," Vardi said in a phone interview that the settlement would have been home to 2,000 and 3,000 people, adding: "In comparison to other settlements (from that time), it's like a very big city."
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