Spoiler – We can't. What we can offer you is our pick of the coolest developments in Israeli archaeology over the past 10 years. So let's hop into the trenches and dig in:

So you're jogging with your dog through a wooded area of the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem and all of a sudden, you see a 1,400-year-old wine press that definitely hadn't been there before.

5: Ancient wine press appears out of nowhere

The Israel Antiquities Authority was a little surprised, to say the least, when an archaeologically minded resident called in her find in May 2015, because none of its people were excavating in the area. But the IAA team dispatched to investigate discovered that the wine press had been discovered by a group of teenagers who were self-professed "archaeology buffs" who had taken it upon themselves to carefully excavate the site.

The archaeologists praised their careful work. "The story touched our hearts and reminded us of our own childhoods," said IAA archaeologist Amit Re'em. However, the Authority gently suggested that in the future, the young archaeologists call in professionals, as "non-methodic" work can damage ancient artifacts. Oh, and the teens were invited to put their talents to use as volunteers on official IAA digs.

In the 1950s, researchers and a group of Bedouin discovered a trove of tens of thousands of scraps of parchment and papyrus comprising parts of about 1,000 manuscripts that had been inscribed 2,000 years earlier. Because of their small size and delicate condition, many of the fragments were stored in cigar boxes and shelved.

4: The Dead Sea Scrolls -Maybe NASA can help?

The Israel Antiquities Authority has long aimed to make the content of the Dead Sea scrolls, as they became known, available to all through the internet. Great! But what to do about the many fragments, some minuscule, of the scrolls that have yet to be decoded?

In 2018, the IAA brought in the big guns and used special imaging technology developed for none other than NASA to shed new light on some of the scrolls.

One section written in proto-Hebrew did not appear to belong to any of the 1,000 manuscripts known today, causing researchers to wonder if there were parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls that had never been discovered.

The NASA technology even raised the tantalizing prospect that there could be an entire additional Dead Sea Scroll whose existence was unknown!

In 2018, archaeologists excavating the Raqefet Cave in the Mount Carmel region near Haifa discovered evidence that beer was brewed there 13,000 years ago – the earliest example of alcohol production found to date.

3: 'Drinking the dinosaurs' - Beer 13,000 years ago and today

The researchers, a joint team from the University of Haifa and Stanford University in California, found traces of beer that was brewed in the cave by the Natufian people, who lived between 15,000 and 11,500 years ago and were among the first people in the world to abandon a nomadic way of life. The Mount Carmel settlement was one of the most important Natufians communities, and researchers from the University of Haifa have been studying the Natufian sites on and around the Carmel for decades.

"They made beer and drank it, apparently as part of special ceremonies," explained Professor Dani Nadel of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

But why stop there? In theory, yeast that was good enough to brew beer back in the day should still do the job. In 2019, that theory became practice when Israeli researchers raised a glass to celebrate a long-brewing project of making beer and mead using yeasts extracted from ancient clay vessels – some over 5,000 years old.

Archaeologists and microbiologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and four Israeli universities teamed up to study yeast colonies found in microscopic pores in pottery fragments from Egyptian, Philistine, and Judean archaeological sites in Israel spanning from 3,000 BCE to the fourth century BCE.

Scientists are touting the brews made from "resurrected" yeasts as an important step in experimental archaeology, a field that seeks to reconstruct the past in order to better understand the flavor of the ancient world.

"In Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs eat the scientists," he said. "Here, the scientists drink the dinosaurs," said Aren Maeir, an archaeologist from Bar-Ilan University.

2: Stop, thief! Antiquities Authority inspectors nab robbers in the act

This past decade has seen some Indiana Jones-like derring-do on the part of Israeli authorities who are doing battle with modern-day antiquities thieves. According to Amir Ganor, who heads the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit at the IAA, explained that bands of robbers have been operating in the Judean Desert for years, looking for objects that they sell for hefty profits.

In 2014, a group of robbers who were trying to sneak ancient scrolls and artifacts out of a cave in the Judean Desert were nabbed in the act – the first time antiquities robbers had been caught in 30 years. The would-be thieves were spotted by members of a desert search and rescue team that was on training maneuvers. The first responders contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority, who rushed to the site.

The suspects, Arabs from a village near Hebron, were digging illegally at a site archaeologists know as the Cave of Skulls and had already caused major damage by the time they were apprehended.

Artifacts found in their possession included a 2,000-year-old lice comb.

In the summer of 2019, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended an unveiling ceremony for new sections of the Pilgrim's Road in the Old City of Jerusalem, which archaeologists have been excavating for the past six years.

1: An ancient route leading to the Second Temple is excavated, revealing surprises

The Herodian road, which was traversed by pilgrims on their way to the Second Temple, was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1894. The excavated sections now run for 700 meters (2,300 feet), from the Pool of Siloam in central Silwan to the slopes of the southern corner of the Western Wall.

But the name "Herodian road" is misleading, as King Herod apparently had nothing to do with its construction. In fact, research published a few months after Friedman and former Trump advisor Jason Greenblatt attended the unveiling of the latest sections of the road indicates that it was most likely built by none other than the infamous Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate.

More than 100 coins found beneath the ancient road prove it must have been completed between 31 and 40 CE, a period mostly covered by Pilate's governorship, Dr. Donald Ariel of the IAA explained.

Ariel suggested the possibility that Pilate had the street built to reduce tensions between the Romans and the Jewish population.

It will likely take another five years or so of work to dig out the full length of the Pilgrim's Road, and who knows what treasures will be revealed along the way?

The post From beer to NASA: The top 5 archaeological moments of the decade appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The garum vats, some of the few to be discovered extant in the eastern Mediterranean region, were unearthed at a city-funded excavation in which young residents of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, outside Ashkelon, and pupils from the Makif Vav Middle School, next to the site, took part.

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Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the IAA explains the central place fish sauce – which had to be prepared outside of urban areas due to the stench it created – held in the ancient Roman diet.

"Historical sources refer to the production of special fish sauce that was used as a basic condiment for food in the Roman and Byzantine eras throughout the Mediterranean basin," Erickson-Gini said.

"This is a rare find in our region and very few installations of this kind have been found in the eastern Mediterranean. Ancient sources even refer to the production of Jewish [kosher] garum. The discovery of this kind of installation in Ashkelon evinces that the Roman tastes that spread throughout the empire were not confined to dress, but also included dietary habits," Erickson-Gini noted.

Ashkelon Mayor Tomer Glam called the recent finds "additional proof [that] Ashkelon is one of the most ancient cities in the world.

"The recent excavation … produces a combination of the city's rich past, its present development, and its future progress," Glam said.

Visitors curious about the culinary habits of the ancient Romans can visit the dig free of charge on Sunday, Dec. 22, the first day of Hanukkah.

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The city, which dates back to the Early Bronze Age (the end of the fourth millennium BCE), was surrounded by walls and included residential and public areas, streets and alleyways. It had an area of 650 dunams (0.25 square miles) and was home to an estimated 6,000 residents.

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The Bronze Age metropolis was constructed on the remains of an even earlier city that dates back 7,000 years to the Chalcolithic Period. Two natural springs located nearby apparently served as the impetus to build planned communities on the site.

Some 5,000 teens and volunteers took part in the excavation under the auspices of an IAA project designed to instill an emotional connection to Israel's ancient heritage and a sense of belonging in the younger generations, as well as awareness of the importance of archaeological preservation.

IAA archaeologists Itai Elad, Dr. Yitzhak Paz, and Dr. Dina Shalem, who directed the dig, said there was "no doubt" that the findings would dramatically change what researchers knew about the Early Bronze Age and the beginnings of urbanization in Canaan.

"This was an exciting time in the history of the land, which was then Canaan, and whose populations underwent changes that changed the face of [the land] entirely. The rural population gave way to a complex society, most of whom lived in urban settings," the archaeologists said.

Video: Israel Antiquities Authority

"These were the first steps the Canaanite culture took in the land of Israel, which took on its own character in the urban sites it founded. … A city like this could not have arisen without someone to plan it and an administrative mechanism that was responsible for its construction. The impressive planning and the fact that tools imported to [Canaan] from Egypt and seals have been discovered at the site are testimony of that.

'There was an enormous city here – a megalopolis in Early Bronze Age terms, where thousands of people lived, making a living from agriculture and who traded with other regions and even other cultures and kingdoms in the area."

Discoveries at the ancient city include an unusually large temple that features a giant stone basin used in religious rites and an altar on which burned animal bones were unearthed, proof of animal sacrifices. The dig also turned up rare idols, including one of a human head.

The surprising discoveries allow researchers to characterize the culture of the peoples who lived in the area in earlier times. The nearby springs and open spaces facilitated agriculture. The remains of the homes and public structures indicate an organized society with a clear hierarchy.

Like so many archaeological discoveries, the city was unearthed as part of the preliminary infrastructure work – in this case, preparations to construct a new highway interchange providing an exit to the newly-developed city Harish, funded by the Israel National Roads Company Ltd.

Confronted with an unexpected ancient "New York," Israel National Roads has changed its plans for the highway and will build an overpass over the site to allow the city to be preserved in situ so researchers can continue to delve into its secrets.

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The dig at the base was part of the Nature Defense Forces, a joint initiative by the IDF, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and the Israel Antiquities Authority which aims to inculcate in IDF officers and soldiers a sense of responsibility for the environment, their natural surroundings, and cultural legacy. The project launched in 2014 with eight different sites and has expanded to some 60 sites throughout Israel.

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The watchtower was built on high ground and provided a sightline to the Hebron hills, the Judean plain, and the area surrounding the coastal city of Ashkelon. It was constructed out of large blocks of stone, some of which weigh as much as eight tons, and stood approximately 2 meters (6.6 feet) high.

Saar Ganor and Vladik Lifshitz, who are overseeing the excavation for the IAA, explained that the tower's strategic location allowed guards on duty to give early warnings about encroaching Philistines, who controlled Ashkelon.

"In the First Temple era, the kingdom of Judah built a series of watchtowers and forts that served as points of contact, warning, and signaling as a way of transferring messages and intelligence," the archaeologists noted.

"This tower is one of the watchtowers that connected the larger cities around it. … In ancient times, messages were sent using smoke signals in daytime and torches at night. The watchtower that has been excavated might be one of the points where torches were set up," Ganor and Lifshitz said.

The watchtower ceased to be used ahead of a journey by Sennacherib King of Assyria through the kingdom of Judah in 701 BCE. The excavations revealed that the entrance to the tower was sealed. The guards who had stood watch in it apparently regrouped in one of the nearby fortified towns. The biblical narrative and archaeological findings indicate that Sennacherib left immense destruction in his wake, destroyed 46 Judean cities and some 2,000 villages and farms.

Nature Defense Forces director Guy Selai says that some 150 paratrooper recruits and commanders participated in the watchtower excavation, which took several months.

"Happily, every one of the projects is strengthening the soldiers' ties to their surroundings. The IDF, as a melting pot for Israeli society, is a unique meeting place for people from all parts of the country, who through this environmental activity form closer bonds with nature and Israeli history," Selai said.

Second Lt. Roei Ofir, who commands new recruits in the Paratroopers Brigade patrol units, said, "For me, the archaeological excavation was something out of the ordinary. I saw the soldiers enjoying manual labor that had added value. This is the first time I took part in an excavation. The connection to the earth, and the fact that there were Jewish soldiers there in the past, gave me a sense of devotion. It also connected us to our training ground – we were actually giving back to the place where we trained."

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The inscription dates to the Second Temple period, or the first century C.E., and features the complete form of the word Jerusalem as we know it today.

The stone bearing the inscription was excavated at an Israel Antiquities Authority dig near the Jerusalem International Convention Center ahead of planned road work. The excavation unearthed the foundations of a Roman-era building supported by pillars. For one stone column drum, the Roman builders reused a stone that had been inscribed in the Aramaic language using Hebrew letters typical to the script used in the Second Temple era, around the time of King Herod.

The three-line inscription reads: "Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem."

Israel Museum Director Professor Ido Bruno said, "As a resident of Jerusalem, I am extremely excited to read this inscription, written 2,000 years ago, especially when I think that this inscription will be accessible to every child that can read and uses the same script used two millennia ago."

Dr. Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who read and studied the inscription, note that "First and Second Temple period inscriptions mentioning Jerusalem are quite rare. But even more unique is the complete spelling of the name as we know it today, which usually appears in the shorthand version. This is the only stone inscription of the Second Temple period known where the full spelling appears. This spelling is only known in one other instance, on a coin of the Great Revolt against the Romans [66-70 C.E.].

"The unusual spelling is also attested to in the Bible, where Jerusalem appears 660 times, with only five mentions – of a relatively late date – having the full spelling (Jeremiah 26:18, Esther 2:6, 2 Chronicles 25:1, 2 Chronicles 32: 9, and 2 Chronicles 25: 1)."

Excavations have been conducted in the area surrounding the convention center for many years, most recently by Danit Levy and Dr. Ron Be'eri of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Levy and Be'eri exposed extensive portions of a potter's quarter, which produced vessels for Jerusalem for a period of over 300 years, spanning the Hasmonean period through to the Late Roman era.

Two additional finds will be on display at the Israel Museum, beginning tomorrow. The first is a Greek mosaic inscription of the sixth century C.E. unearthed near Damascus Gate, commemorating the construction of a public building in Jerusalem in the Byzantine period – likely a hostel – by the emperor Justinian and an abbot by the name of Constantine.

The second is a first century C.E. coffin cover featuring a Hebrew inscription that reads "the son of the high priest." The cover was found in a village estate north of the city, and attests to the high stature and wealth of the priestly families in the Second Temple period.

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