Another Second Temple quarry uncovered*

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
The Jerusalem Post

For the second time in the past year, archeologists have uncovered a
Second Temple Period quarry whose stones were used to build the Western
Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.

[The Second Temple-era quarry...]

The Second Temple-era quarry discovered recently in Jerusalem's
Sanhedria neighborhood.

The latest archeological discovery was made in the city's Sanhedria
neighborhood, located about two kilometers from the Old City of Jerusalem.

The quarry was uncovered during a routine "salvage excavation" carried
out by the state-run archeological body over the last several months
ahead of the construction of a private house in the religious neighborhood.

The quarry is believed to be one of those used to build the Jerusalem
holy site because the size of the stones match those at the Western Wall.

"Most of the stones that were found at the site are similar in size to
the smallest stones that are currently visible in the Western Wall, and
therefore we assume that the stones from this quarry were used to build
these structures," said Dr. Gerald Finkielsztejn, director of the
excavation.

The stones were dated by pottery found at the site, he added.

"This is a rather regular quarry except that there are really big
stones," Finkielsztejn said.

The largest of the stones found at the quarry measures 0.69 x 0.94 x
1.65 m, while some of the stones were apparently ready for extraction
but were left in place.

The quarry was probably abandoned at the time of the Great Revolt
against the Romans in 66-70 CE, he said.

Last year, archeologists unearthed an ancient quarry that supplied
enormous high quality limestones for the construction of the Temple
Mount in an outlying neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Dozens of quarries have previously been found in Jerusalem, but these
are the first two that archeologists have uncovered which they believed
were used in the construction of the Temple Mount.

A few dozen quarries were likely used in the building of the Temple
Mount, said Prof. Amos Kloner, a former Jerusalem district archaeologist
at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

He said it was "no surprise" that the first two had been found, and
noted that the neighborhood where the latest quarry was found was in
itself built on top of a quarry.