BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Second Temple Period Jars Found

Discovered in water hole at Khirbet Kafr Mer on West Bank

Photo: COGAT

Clay objects and dozens of jars were found in what had been a water hole at the Khirbet Kafr Mer site in Beit El, on the West Bank. They had been lined up and systematically stored in large plastered recesses of the water hole for hundreds of years, starting some 2,000 years ago, in the Second Temple period. This systematic storage tells researchers that the water hole’s primary use shifted from water source to storage area.

Photo: COGAT

The excavation at Khirbet Kafr Mer has been conducted by the Civil Administration (COGAT) for more than ten years. Researchers have concluded that it was occupied from the 8th century B.C.E. into the Byzantine period, but was most developed in the Second Temple period.  Another recent discovery at that site include an intricately decorated stone table that probably belonged to a wealthy Jewish family.

Over the years the excavations have yielded many finds. A large wall, hastily erected, from the time of the Jewish Revolt in the first century C.E. was discovered. Also ritual baths (mikveh), an oil mill, residential buildings, and many smaller objects.

Read the article in the Jerusalem Post.

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