A 2,000-year-old workshop near a pilgrimage site in Jerusalem has been found after looters were arrested
Authorities in Israel recently took on a serious task of fighting antiquities thieves – and found a 2,000-year-old workshop that once served pilgrims to Jerusalem.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery on February 16.
In a press release shared with Fox News Digital, authorities said the assembly was found in a cave under Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.
Officials came to the cave one night after carefully following the robbers – they caught them in the act.
The suspects were caught red-handed carrying quarry tools and a metal detector. Five suspects were arrested and confessed to the crimes they were facing, according to officials.
“They will soon be charged with damage and illegal excavation of an archaeological site – crimes punishable by law, with a fixed sentence of up to five years in prison,” the IAA release said.
But what started as a theft investigation quickly turned into a major archaeological discovery.
The workshop dates back to the Second Temple period—the time when Jesus lived and preached in Jerusalem.
In the cave, officials found “hundreds of pieces of stone vessels, industrial waste and unfinished materials,” according to the release.
“To their surprise, they found hundreds of pieces of unique stone vessels,” the statement said.
The site was once located along a major road once used by Jewish travelers – especially those traveling to and from the Jordan Valley, Jericho and the Dead Sea region.
“It seems that the vessels produced here were marketed on the streets of Jerusalem to the citizens of the city and to the tourists who visited the temple during the Second Temple period,” said the IAA.
“This was probably the industrial workshop that produced the ships for the many Jews and pilgrims who came to Jerusalem in those days.”
Officials also said that the production and use of stoneware was “unique to the Jewish people,” as religious traditions were involved.
“Ancient sources describe a change in the field of cleanliness and hygiene during this period, where there was a widespread strictness in the laws of cleanliness and hygiene that affected everyone,” the release said.
“During this period, archeology has found that purification mikvahs began to be installed in people’s homes, in rural villages and towns, near the large purification mikvahs in the city of Jerusalem, near and around the Temple, and on the roads leading up to Jerusalem.”
The vessels were used for many purposes, including drinking and storing grain, said Eitan Klein, deputy director of the Theft Prevention Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Klein told Fox News Digital that evidence suggests the workshop once operated on a large scale.
“This was probably an industrial workshop that produced ships for the many Jews and pilgrims who came to Jerusalem in those days,” he said.
In a press release, Klein said that the availability of the workshop “is very important, because now the broader picture of this region is emerging.”
The artifacts are now on display at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archeology of Israel in Jerusalem.
In a statement, Israel’s Minister of Antiquities, Amichai Eliyahu, described the cave as “just an archaeological site, but it is a window to the world that is kept deep in the soil, waiting for us.”
“The attempts of our enemies to loot antiquities are not crimes of stealing money, but attempts to steal our information,” said Eliyahu.
“We will not allow this, and we will continue to take decisive action to preserve and protect what has been, and always will be, ours.”
