An ancient burial cave from the 13th century B.C. was discovered on a beach in Israel last week, Israeli officials said Sunday.
Archaeologists used a ladder to descend into the man-made square cave after a mechanical digger working at the Palmahim national park made the discovery Tuesday. The room was filled with dozens of pottery pieces and bronze artifacts, according to video footage by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
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“This is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,” Eli Yannai, an expert in the Bronze Age with the IAA, said. “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 the 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.”
Several dozens of pottery and bronze artifacts were laid out in the cave in the same manner they were arranged in a burial ceremony, the authorities said. Ancient people believed the spiritual equivalent of the artifacts would have accompanied them to the afterlife.
The findings date to the reign of Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II, who controlled Canaan between 1279-1213 BC, which encompassed modern-day Israel and the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
IAA archaeologist David Gelman said the discovery was incredible because burial caves are uncommon, especially those that date back 3,000 years.
“It feels like something out of an Indiana Jones movie: just going into the ground and everything is just laying there as it was initially,” Gelman told AFP. “Intact pottery vessels, weapons, vessels made out of bronze, burials just as they were.”
The cave has been resealed and is under guard while a plan for its excavation is made, the IAA said.
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Another rare find was made recently. A Byzantine-era mosaic was discovered in Gaza, half a mile from the Israel border, which set the archaeological world abuzz. Both discoveries come amid heightened tensions between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
