Archaeologists have discovered a mysterious Canaanite (Canaanite/Canaanite) arch and vaulted staircase inside a well-preserved mudbrick building that dates back 3,800 years to the Middle Bronze Age. Archaeologists have no idea why this arch was built.
Canaanites lived in the southern Levant from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. There is no evidence to suggest that they were ever united politically or ethnically as one kingdom, as archaeologist and Penn State associate professor Anne Killebrew wrote in her book Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of the Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israelites 1300-1100 BC" (Society for Biblical Research, 2005).
The newly discovered building, which lies within the ancient acropolis of Tel Shimron in a fertile valley, may have served a cult function, archaeologists told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Inside the passage and before a sharp turn leading to a monumental arch, they discovered a seven-cup clay artifact known as the Nahariya Cup, which was used for ritual sacrifices in the Middle Bronze Age.
A bowl discovered during excavations at Tel Shimron.
Christina Carper/livescience.com
Previous excavations of another clay structure at the acropolis found 30,000 animal bones that were likely sacrificed, archaeologists said.
Source livescience.com
