Researchers have uncovered a large stone vessel workshop from the Second Temple period on the eastern slopes of Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. The discovery sheds new light on an industry that supported daily life and religious practice in the city about 2,000 years ago.
Inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority identified the site after noticing signs of illegal digging at Ras Tamim. The marks suggested attempts to reach an underground cave. Authorities then placed the area under surveillance.
Night raid leads to arrests
After several days of monitoring, officers carried out a nighttime operation. They arrested five suspects at the site. Officials said the group carried a generator, quarrying tools, and a metal detector.
Some suspects were found inside the cave. Others remained above ground and acted as lookouts. During questioning, the suspects admitted to the illegal excavation, according to authorities.
Prosecutors plan to file charges for unlawful digging and damage to an antiquities site. The offenses carry a possible prison sentence of up to five years.
Evidence of large-scale production
Once the area was secured, archaeologists entered the cave. The floor was covered with hundreds of fragments made of chalk limestone.
Broken stone vessel pieces lay beside piles of stone chips and several unfinished items. Researchers suggest that the remains indicate large-scale production during the late Second Temple period. The amount of waste suggests the workshop operated steadily and served ongoing demand in Jerusalem.
A wider manufacturing zone
Similar stone vessel workshops are known from the Judean hills. Construction work on the Naomi Shemer Tunnel previously exposed another production site near Mount Scopus. Excavations north of Jerusalem, in Hizma, revealed an additional workshop.
Together, the sites point to an organized manufacturing zone that supplied stone vessels to Jerusalem and supported the city’s economy during the Second Temple period.
Along a key route into Jerusalem
Archaeologists also documented other remains in the area. These include burial tombs, large water reservoirs, a limestone quarry, and a ritual bath, known as a mikve.
The structures line a main road that once led into Jerusalem from the east. Pilgrims traveling from the Jordan Valley, Jericho, Transjordan, and the Dead Sea region would have passed through this route on their way to the Temple.
Why stone vessels mattered
Stone vessels played a distinct role in Jewish life at the time. Under Jewish law, stone containers did not absorb ritual impurity in the same way as pottery.
Households that observed purity laws preferred them for daily use, including storage and food preparation. Written sources from the period describe stricter observance of purity rules across the population.
Archaeologists have found ritual baths in private homes, villages, and city neighborhoods, as well as large public mikvaot near the Temple. Rabbinic texts describe a widespread rise in purity practices.
Artifacts now on public display
Artifacts recovered from the workshop are now on display in the exhibition Criminal Past at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.
The exhibition showcases items seized from illegal excavations, tracing their path from unauthorized digging to the antiquities market. Visitors also learn about the work of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit, whose field operations led to the arrests and the exposure of the ancient workshop.
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