JOIN TODAY
JOIN TODAY

Hellenistic Settlement Uncovered in Israel

News February 18, 2014

(Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
SHARE:

burmaroad1
(Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that salvage excavations in advance of work on a natural gas pipeline have revealed a small rural settlement that reached its greatest extent in the third century B.C., when the region was ruled by the Hellenistic Seleucid Dynasty. Like many other rural villages in Israel, the site was abandoned sometime in the first century B.C., when Herod the Great began his reign. "The phenomenon of villages and farms being abandoned at the beginning of Herod the Great's rule is one that we are familiar with from many rural sites in Judea," Jerusalem regional archaeologist Yuval Baruch explained in an IAA statement. "And it may be related to Herod's massive building projects in Jerusalem, particularly the construction of the Temple Mount, and the mass migration of villagers to the capital to work on these projects."

Recommended Articles

Off the Grid September/October 2025

Necropolis of Pantalica, Italy

Read Article
Photo by Ilana Herzig

Artifacts September/October 2025

Anglo-Saxon Coin

Read Article
Courtesy Adrian Marsden

Digs & Discoveries September/October 2025

Law & Order

Read Article
Shai Halevi, Courtesy of the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, Israel Antiquities Authority

Digs & Discoveries September/October 2025

African Swordcraft

Read Article
Courtesy Ron Lawrence Anderson

More to Discover

Features January/February 2014

Top 10 Discoveries of 2013

ARCHAEOLOGY's editors reveal the year's most compelling stories

Read Article

  • Features January/February 2014

    Stone Towns of the Swahili Coast

    Along 2,000 miles of the East African coast, the sophisticated trading centers of the medieval Swahili reveal their origins and influences

    Read Article
    (Samir S. Patel)

  • Letter from England January/February 2014

    The Scientist's Garden

    Excavations in an English garden reveal the evolution of the nation's culture across thousands of years

    Read Article
    (Adam Stanford, Aerial-Cam)

  • Artifacts January/February 2014

    Limestone Eagle

    Read Article
    (Matthew Helmer)

  • Digs & Discoveries January/February 2014

    French Revolution Forgeries?

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Davide Pettener/Paolo Garagnani)