DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT CITY A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH
ISRAELI archaeologists say they have discovered a large, 5000-year-old city in northern Israel.
Israel’s Antiquities Authority has revealed the ancient city was discovered during preparations for a highway overpass near Harish, a town 50km north of Tel Aviv.
It calls the site a “cosmopolitan and planned city” that dates to the early Bronze Age.
The Canaanite megalopolis is thought to have covered 65 hectares and was probably home to about 6000 people.
“In this city, we have a planned settlement with a whole net of streets and alleys and squares, and drainage installations, storage installation,” said Yitzhak Paz, on behalf of the authority.
Researchers said they discovered an unusual ritual temple, burnt animal bones – evidence of sacrificial offerings – and a figurine of a human head as well as pottery fragments, flint tools and stone vessels. They said the discovery “dramatically changes” their understanding of the period – a time in which a rural society was beginning to establish urban sites.
They said residents made a living from agriculture and traded with other kingdoms.