Archaeologists Find Ancient Pottery Dating To Moses And Rameses
By Church News
Israeli archaeologists this week unveiled 3,300-year-old, untouched pottery that dates to the time of Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II and possibly Moses.
The discovery was made when a mechanical digger penetrated the roof of a cave at Palmachim Beach National Park, revealing a large room seemingly “frozen in time” and filled with pottery and other objects that would have been used in Egyptian burials. At the time, the Egyptian kingdom included the land that is now Israel.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said the cave looked like an “Indiana Jones film set,” filled with intact bowls and jugs.
“The hewn cave was square in form with a central supporting pillar,” IAA said. “Several dozens of intact pottery and bronze artefacts were lain out in the cave, exactly as they were arranged in the burial ceremony about 3,300 years ago. These vessels were burial offerings that accompanied the deceased in the belief that they would serve the dead in the afterlife.”
The cave is from the year 13th century BC, the period most dated to the biblical exodus story in which King Ramses II is narrated as a hard-hearted pharaoh who would not let Moses’ people go. He is best known for his extensive building program, and his colossal statues found throughout Egypt.
Eli Yannai, an IAA Bronze Age expert, said in the long reign of the Egyptian dynasty of Pharaoh Ramses II, the Egyptian Empire ruled Canaan, and the Egyptian government provided safe conditions for extensive international trade. He described economic and social processes as reflected in burial caves containing pottery vessels imported from Cyprus and Ugarit.
Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Eskosido and Israel Nature and Parks Authority director Raya Shurky called the discovery “absolutely astonishing.”
“Within a few days, we will formulate a plan to carry out the research and the protection of this unique site, which is a feast for the archaeological world and for the ancient history of the land of Israel,” they said in the news release.
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