Ancient biblical waterworks found in Israel
Pastor Dale Morgan
Ancient biblical waterworks found in Israel*
23 Aug 2006 06:23:48 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Corinne Heller
RAMAT RACHEL, Israel, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Israel have
unearthed an ancient water system which was modified by the conquering
Persians to turn the desert into a paradise.
The network of reservoirs, drain pipes and underground tunnels served
one of the grandest palaces in the biblical kingdom of Judea.
Archaeologists first discovered the palace in 1954, a structure built on
a six-acre (2.4 hectare) site where the communal Ramat Rachel farm now
stands.
Recent excavations unearthed nearly 70 square metres (750 square feet)
of a unique water system.
"They had found a huge palace ... even nicer than the palaces in
Jerusalem, (dating) from the late Iron Age to the end of the biblical
period in the 7th century," Oded Lipschits, a Tel Aviv University
archaeologist, said.
The infrastructure of the palace was remodelled throughout the centuries
to fit the needs of the Babylonians, Persians, Romans and Hasmoneans who
ruled the Holy Land, said Lipschits, who heads the dig with an academic
from Germany's University of Heidelberg.
But it was the Persians, who took control of the region around 539 BC
from the Babylonians, who renovated the water system and turned it into
a thing of beauty.
Lipschits said they added small waterfalls to try to turn a desert into
a paradise.
"Imagine on this land plants and water rushing and streaming here,"
Lipschits said. "This was important to someone who finds aesthetics
important, for someone who wanted to feel as though they are not just in
some remote corner in the desert."
Yuval Gadot, a biblical archaeology expert from Tel Aviv University who
is taking part in the excavation, said it was unclear exactly how the
water system worked.
"Probably rainwater came down on the roof of the houses (in the palace
complex)," he said. "From there, it was collected by drains into pools
or to the underground reservoir and taken to nearby fields for crops or
nice gardens."
For centuries water supplies have been one of the most sensitive issues
in the Middle East, where most of the region is desert.