A one-of-a-kind assembly of 'pearl caverns' housing archaeological relics has been discovered within an old passageway.
The pearls belong to the category of 'speleothems' – these are mineral formations found in caves that result from flowing water.
In contrast to widely recognized formations like stalactites and stalagmites, cave pearls typically have a round form and usually aren’t attached to floors, walls, or ceilings.
Typically narrower than 30 centimeters, these formations occur in small puddles within limestone caverns. They develop as layers of calcite accumulate around a central core, frequently consisting of a rock shard or clump of dirt.
A recent study in Archaeometry reveals that researchers discovered 50 cave pearls within an ancient passageway located in the Jerusalem Hills. Israel .
The most thrilling aspect of this discovery is that 14 out of the collected pearls include cores made from pottery fragments—two of these seem to originate from ceramic lamps—while two more pearls have cores composed of plaster material.
For the first time, researchers have recorded discovering archaeological items within cave pearls, as stated in the study.
'Till the present investigation, cave pearls had not been discovered within an archaeological setting or utilized for such studies,' stated the researchers who conducted the study.
The team discovered the cave pearls whilst exploring the Jwoeizeh spring tunnel in the Jerusalem Hills, according to reports. Newsweek.
A spring tunnel is an old artificial structure created to access water from perched aquifers (an underground layer of rock that holds water).
The southern Levant features one of the most extended and ancient spring systems in the region, believed to originate from the early 7th to the 8th centuries BCE.
It could have been part of a regal residence.
The research team was not looking for cave pearls when they stumbled upon an entrance to a concealed part of the tunnel during their exploration in 2017.
In this section, approximately 23 feet in length and filled with dirt and rubble, they discovered the pearls along with an undamaged oil lamp believed to be from the 3rd-4th centuries AD.
The majority of these pottery fragments have been traced back to either the Hellenistic era (333-63 BC), or the subsequent Roman through Byzantine times, spanning from 63 BC up to the seventh century AD.
In the meantime, the plaster samples were determined to date back to approximately the Hellenistic era.
However, one of the pottery samples is believed to be even more ancient, potentially originating from the Persian period (535-333 BC), the Babylonian era (586-535 BC), or perhaps as far back as the Iron Age.
The research indicates that the tunnels were renovated during the Hellenistic era, utilizing oil lamps for illumination.
However, they also offer proof regarding the tunnels' beginnings.
The primary researcher, Azriel Yechezkel, who works at the Institute of Archaeology located at Tel Aviv University, shared this information with Newsweek 'Our study reinforces our belief that the tunnel was initially built during the Iron Age [approximately the 8-7th centuries B.C.].'
'Additionally, this offers the initial analytical dating of artifacts discovered within the pearls... indicating that the tunnel underwent a reconstruction phase during the Hellenistic period.'
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