A large stone tool workshop from the Second Temple period, which produced tools for Jews some 2,000 years ago, was uncovered in a cave on the eastern slopes of Mount Scopus (the biblical Mount of Olives) in Jerusalem.
In the underground cave housing this workshop were hundreds of stone vessel fragments, production waste, and unfinished items.
This striking discovery is an unexpected byproduct of an undercover surveillance and capture operation targeting an organized gang of antiquities robbers, conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority's Theft Prevention Unit.
Suspicious activity was noted at the Ras Tamim antiquities site. When evidence of fresh excavation signs and attempts to penetrate underground appeared, Theft Prevention Unit inspectors of the Israel Antiquities Authority began conducting clandestine observations and emplacing ambush units, seeking to identify the robbers and preferably catch them in the act.
After tracking and documenting activities, late one night, five alleged robbers were arrested while in possession of extensive excavation equipment, including a generator, quarrying tools, and a metal detector.
Some suspects were caught underground in the cave, while others, acting as lookouts and guards, were apprehended above ground.
