Stone quarry believed to be from Second Temple period uncovered in Jerusalem

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient quarry in Jerusalem believed to be from the Second Temple period.

In a statement, the Israel Antiquities Authority notes the quarry was discovered in what is now the city’s Har Hotzvim tech park, whose name means “Quarrymen’s Hill” in Hebrew.

The IAA says the site, only part of which has been excavated, had “massive building blocks” mined from it to use in construction projects.

“The large-scale building projects in ancient Jerusalem, such as the Temple Mount, required a vast amount of building materials and the ability to organize and coordinate the quarrying and transportation of thousands of building blocks to the ancient city,” Moran Hagbi, who directed the excavation, is quoted saying in the statement.

He also says that as large stones were found in various stages of preparation before their use in building, “we can copy ancient technologies and experiment with them in order to recreate the processes by which the building stones were quarried.”