In 2019, remains of a 2,000-year-old Hasmonean village were discovered during the digging of the foundation for a new school building in Jerusalem.

The village contained a large wine press, fragments of storage jars, a large columbarium (dovecote), an olive press, a large ritual bath (mikveh), a water cistern, rock quarries and a many-chambered burial cave leading to a large courtyard.

“It seems that this burial estate served a wealthy or prominent family during the Hasmonean period. The estate was in use for a few generations as was common in that era,” said IAA excavation director Ya’akov Billig.

Picture: An ancient olive press uncovered at a 2,000-year-old Hasmonean village in Jerusalem. Photo © Ya’akov Billig/Israel Antiquities Authority