Archaeologists have made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery in an ancient burial cave in Israel. They say it “looks like an ‘Indiana Jones’ film set.” The find dates back to the time of Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II.
Archaeologists make “once-in-a-lifetime” discovery in an ancient burial cave in Israel
Archaeologists are describing a burial cave found in Israel as something that “looks like an ‘Indiana Jones’ film set,” filled with ancient pottery and bronze artifacts dating back to the time of Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II.
The inadvertent discovery was made last Tuesday on a beach where a worker using a mechanical digger at the Palmahim National Park accidentally hit its roof and exposed the hidden cave, CBS reported. Palmachim National Park is located just south of Tel Aviv.
Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority were called in, and an official named Dror Citron was the first to identify the space, descending into the cave. The space seemed frozen in time, filled with dozens of artifacts from the Bronze Age, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“The finds in the cave date to the thirteenth century BCE (Late Bronze Age IIB),” said Dr. Eli Yannai, Israel Antiquities Authority Bronze Age expert. “In this period, in the long reign of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty Pharaoh Rameses II, the Egyptian Empire controlled Canaan, and the Egyptian administration provided secure conditions for extensive international trade.”
Video released showing artifacts
Archaeologists dated the artifacts to the late Bronze Age, close to or during the reign of the biblically notorious ancient Egyptian king Ramses II, who died in 1213 BC, the Times of Israel reported.
The Israel Antiquities Authority made the announcement on Sunday and released a video showing the inside of the cave. The incredible footage captured the variety of pottery in various forms and sizes, as well as bronze artifacts found within.
Israel Antiquities Authority describes the find
“Don’t miss an extremely rare opportunity to take a look into what looks like an ‘Indiana Jones’ film set,” the Israel Antiquities Authority posted on Facebook, “a cave floor laid out with vessels untouched for 3,300 years, since the Late Bronze Age, about the time of the powerful King Rameses II, that was revealed in the Palmachim Beach National Park!”
“An exceptional and amazing discovery from the time of the Pharaoh associated with the Biblical Exodus from Egypt,” the post by the Israel Antiquities Authority continued. “According to Dr. Eli Yannai, Israel Antiquities Authority Bronze Age expert, ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery! A cave floor laid out with vessels untouched for 3,300 years, since the Late Bronze Age, about the time of the powerful King Rameses II.'”
“The fact that the cave was sealed, and not looted in later periods, will allow us to employ the modern scientific methods available today, to retrieve much information from the artifacts and from the residues extant on the vessels, for example, organic remains that are not visible to the naked eye. The cave may furnish a complete picture of the Late Bronze Age funerary customs,” the Israel Antiquities Authority added. “The cave predominantly included pottery vessels, such as deep and shallow bowls, some red-painted, footed chalices and storage jars, some imported from the Lebanese coast. Additional smaller vessels, mainly jugs and juglets, used to store and trade smaller quantities of expensive commodities, were imported from Tyre, Sidon, and other ports along the coast of Lebanon and Israel, whilst dome pottery vessels came from Cyprus.”
