Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Jewish Business News

History & Archeology

Why were decapitated toads placed in a jar in a 4,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem?

Remains of decapitated toads found in a jar in a 4,000-year-old tomb near the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo shed light on burial customs in the Canaanite period

David Tanami, an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist, works his way into the narrow tomb opening to bring out the jar. Photo: Shua Kisilevitz, Israel Antiquities Authority

 

Remains of decapitated toads found in a jar in a 4,000-year-old tomb at Nahal Repha’im basin in Jerusalem.

Fascinating findings from an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation near the Biblical Zoo shed light on burial customs in the Canaanite period (the Middle Bronze Age). The archaeological excavation, which took place in 2014, yielded the remains of at least nine toads, and evidence of the cultivation of date palms and myrtle in the area.

Please help us out :
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.

Remains that were found in vessels placed in the tomb as funerary offerings were examined, using advanced scientific methods.

“This section of the Nahal Repha’im basin was fertile ground for settlement throughout time, especially during the Canaanite period.” explained the excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Shua Kisilevitz and Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe.

“In recent years excavations in the area have uncovered two settlement sites, two temples and a number of cemeteries, which provide new insight into the life of the local population at that time.” added Kisilevitz and Turgeman-Yaffe.

Jar with remains of the toads. Photo: Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe, Israel Antiquities Authority

“For an archaeologist, finding tombs that were intentionally sealed in antiquity is a priceless treasure, because they are a time capsule that allows us to encounter objects almost just as they were originally left.

“At that time, it was customary to bury the dead with offerings that constituted a kind of “burial kit,” which, it was believed, would serve the deceased in the afterworld. When we removed the stone that blocked the tomb opening, we were excited to discover intact bowls and jars. In one of the jars, to our surprise, we found a heap of small bones. The study of the bones, by Dr. Lior Weisbrod of the University of Haifa, revealed at least nine toads. Interestingly, they had been decapitated,” Kisilevitz and Turgeman-Yaffe said.

Another intriguing finding came to light through analysis of sediments collected from the clay jars and examined under a microscope. The examination, by Dr. Dafna Langgut of Tel Aviv University, revealed that shortly before the vessels were placed in the tomb, they came into contact with various plants including date palms and myrtle bushes.

 

 

This fact is interesting because this is not the natural habitat for those species, and they, therefore, seem to have been planted here intentionally. According to Dr. Langgut, in this period the date palm symbolized fertility and rejuvenation, which could explain why the ancients cultivated the trees in this environment, where they do not grow naturally.

According to the researchers, these plants may have been part of an orchard planted in an area where funeral rituals were held, during which offerings of food and objects were made to the deceased. The scholars surmise that the jar with the headless toads was among these offerings.

The research will be presented for the first time on Thursday, October 18, at the conference “New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region,” open to the public, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Newsletter



Advertisement

You May Also Like

World News

In the 15th Nov 2015 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:   ·         A new Israeli treatment brings hope to relapsed leukemia...

Entertainment

The Movie The Professional is what made Natalie Portman a Lolita.

Travel

After two decades without a rating system in Israel, at the end of 2012 an international tender for hotel rating was published.  Invited to place bids...

VC, Investments

You may not become a millionaire, but there is a lot to learn from George Soros.