According to Discovery News, the stair-like podium, which dates back to the time when Jesus walked the Earth, is made from “large ashlar – or finely cut – stones, the 2,000-year-old stepped structure leads to a podium”.
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Dr. Joe Uziel, co-director of the excavation, with the unique structure. “Its exact use remains enigmatic”.
The street was built from vast stone paving slabs in the first 30 years of the first century C.E. and comprised one of the major construction projects of Second Temple period.
The miniature pyramid of steps, located adjacent to he destroyed Second Temple, is estimated to be roughly 2,000 years old. “Maybe messages from the government were delivered here, possibly news and juicy gossip”.
A newly exposed stepped structure of large stone blocks on an ancient street in Jerusalem may have been a platform for public announcements, the Israel Antiques Authority said on Monday.
Though part of the structure was originally discovered in the 19th century by British archeologists Frederick Bliss and Archibald Dickie, the two had maintained that it was an entrance to the Second Temple. The Second Temple Period refers to the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple under Persian auspices from 538 to 515 BCE until it was demolished by Roman armies in 70 CE. Dozens of whole pottery vessels, stone vessels and glassware were found at the foot of the pyramid-shaped staircase.
“We don’t know of any other archaeological podiums in Jerusalem”, stated Uziel, explaining the uniqueness of the find.
The researchers go on to say, “Given the lack of a clear archaeological parallel to the stepped-structure, the objective of the staircase remains a mystery”. According to archeologists Nahshon Zenton and Joe Uziel, who directed the excavation, the structure resembles nothing previously discovered in the Israeli capital.
“We know from rabbinic sources there were “stones” that were used for public purposes during the Second Temple period”, they said.
A passage in the Talmudic tractate of Bava Metzia records that “our Rabbis taught: There was a Stone of Claims in Jerusalem: whoever lost an article repaired thither, and whoever found an article did likewise”.
While there is evidence suggesting this, the archaeologists warned against drawing conclusions in their statement: “It is certainly possible the rabbinical sources provide valuable information about structures, such as this, although for the time being there is no definitive proof”.
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Scientists have recently unearthed a mysterious podium in the historic city of Jerusalem they suspect might have been used either by preachers on the road or even as a kind of primitive lost-and-found.
