100 Ancient Vessels Found

August 1, 2010

A natural hollow in the bedrock was exposed in archaeological excavations prior to the installation of a natural gas pipeline southeast of Haifa in the Jezreel Valley. For two weeks, they worked at uncovering over one-hundred 3,500-year-old cultic vessels. Each time they thought they reached the bottom of the cavity, a new layer of complete vessels was discovered.

The vessels were piled one on top of the other with some vessels being broken by those that had been placed upon them. Among the finds recovered were a vessel used for burning incense, a sculpted face of a woman that was part of a cultic cup used in dedicating a libation to a god, goblets and bowls with high bases, and tableware for eating and drinking. Some had been brought from Mycenae in Greece, evidence of the ancient trade relations.

According to archaeologists Uzi Ad and Dr. Edwin van den Brink, this is an extremely rare discovery. Until now no such pits have been found from 3,500 years ago. It is also extraordinary to find scores of vessels that are so well preserved. It was obvious that considerable time and thought were invested in the placement of the vessels into the rock-hollow, as evidenced by the different kinds of vessels that were buried separately.

“In this period, the children of Israel were still in Egypt or the desert…During this period, it was customary that each city had a temple of its own where special cultic vessels were used. At the end of the Late Bronze Age [the Canaanite period], the region was vanquished…Therefore, one of the theories is that the vessels were buried in order to protect them from the impending destruction,” explained the archaeologists. Another possibility is that the vessels were buried in a special place after they were no longer used instead of being discarded.

Source: (From IAA press releases by Charleeda Sprinkle, Assistant Editor)