Discovery of a burial mound dating to the period of Ramses II
Israel announced on Sunday the discovery of a “unique” burial site dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II and filled with dozens of pottery, bronze objects and bones.
Bowls – some painted red, others with bones – were found in the burial, along with urns, cooking vessels, jars, lamps and bronze arrowheads or spearheads.
AFP
The vault was discovered by accident on September 13 in Palmahim National Park, south of the Tel Aviv metropolis, when an excavator tripped over a piece of stone that had become the vault’s roof.
A video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has amazed archaeologists with dozens of pottery vessels of various shapes and sizes from the reign of an ancient Egyptian king who died in 1213 BC.
Bowls – some painted red, others with bones – urns, cooking vessels, jars, lamps and bronze arrowheads or spearheads were found in the burials. These objects are funeral rites for the afterlife on the funeral journey of the deceased. They have remained intact since they were deposited about 3300 years ago. In one corner of the burial site, at least one skeleton was found relatively intact.
“This vault can provide us with a complete picture of post-Bronze Age burial rituals,” IAA expert Eli Yannai said in a statement on the period, referring to the “extremely rare” find.
Eli Yannai said in a statement that the pottery’s provenance — Cyprus, Lebanon, northern Syria, Gaza and Jaffa — “was due to the intense commercial activity along the coast.”
AFP
“When I saw the objects in the cave on the coast of Palmahim, my eyes immediately lit up, this kind of discovery happens only once in a lifetime. It is incredible to find objects that have been untouched and intact from the first use,” enthused archaeologist David Gellman of the IAA.
They date to the reign of Ramses II, who ruled Egypt between 1279 and 1213 BC and also controlled the Canaan region, which includes modern Israel, the Palestinian territories and parts of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, according to the Commission on Antiquities. .
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Eli Yannai said in a statement that the pottery’s provenance — Cyprus, Lebanon, northern Syria, Gaza and Jaffa — “was due to the intense commercial activity along the coast.”
David Gellman has speculated on the identity of the skeletons in this vault located on the now famous beach. “The fact that these people were buried with weapons, including full quivers, suggests that they may have been warriors or guards on ships.”
The vault has been sealed and guarded around the site pending a plan to further excavate the site, where “some objects” have already been looted in a short period of time last week, the IAA said, pending the site’s closure since the discovery.
AFP
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