BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Second Temple Trash

Digging ancient Jerusalem’s main drainage channel

Broken glass vessels from Second Temple Jerusalem. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

Excavations of Jerusalem’s Second Temple drainage channel have revealed fascinating details about the last decades of the flourishing city before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. By uncovering the trash left behind by Jerusalem’s first-century residents, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has been able to fill in the gaps in Jerusalem’s material and culinary culture.

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One Person’s Trash Is Another Person’s Treasure

The Second Temple channel once passed through the city’s bustling market at the foot of the Temple Mount, before making its way along the entire length of the City of David ridge. “Into the channel’s mouth were swept the detritus of the life above Jerusalem’s main street,” explains excavation director Ayala Zilberstein, “where they remained preserved between the walls just as they were at the moment of the city’s destruction.” These small finds, cast aside by their owners, now tell the story of Jerusalem. Among the finds were complete ceramic lamps, glass vessels, food remains, coins, and beads.

Intact oil lamps discovered in the drainage channel. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

As the city’s drainage channels were cleaned regularly, the team can confidently date the accumulated material to the last few decades before Jerusalem’s destruction, with the upper-most levels coming from the final days of the city. In these upper levels, they discovered complete lamps, which were possibly used by people hiding from the Romans. Further down, they uncovered many whole vessels, including ceramic and glass vials and a large variety of pots and dishes, revealing the near complete tableware set of Jerusalem’s residents. “The channel assemblage is drawn from many houses, and from different streets in town,” said Zilberstein, “thus presenting us with examples of almost all wares the city’s merchants had to offer.”

A collection of finds from the Second Temple drainage channel. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

In addition to standard excavation, the IAA sends all of their excavated dirt for sifting, which has revealed a great deal of additional information regarding the diet of Second Temple Jerusalem. These smaller finds include grape seeds, grain kernels, fish bones, and even eggshells.

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Jerusalem’s Iron Age Moat Discovered

Jerusalem’s Golden Tomb

Taking Out the Trash in Ancient Jerusalem

Trash Reveals Ancient Agriculture’s Secrets

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

Jerusalem and the Holy Land(fill)

Jerusalem in David and Solomon’s Time

Jerusalem as Eden

Treasure in the Trash: The “Adonis of Dor”

Relics in Rubble: The Temple Mount Sifting Project