Israeli archeologists have found a large cache of intact pagan vessels piled one atop the other in a natural hollow of bedrock in Tel Qashish, southeast of Haifa.
Used by the ancient Canaanite people in a pagan cult that worshiped idols, the 3,500-year-old vessels belonged to a previously undiscovered temple.
Most likely, the priests buried the temple's furniture in order to protect the items from destruction during an incursion of the ancient Egyptians.
Indeed, at the end of the Late Bronze Age (the Canaanite period), the region was vanquished, including Tel Qashish, which was destroyed by a fierce conflagration.
In this audio slide show, Edwin van den Brink, the excavation co-director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, tells Discovery what he found when he entered the cave.
Credits: Audio Slide Show by Rossella Lorenzi
Pictures: Assaf Peretz, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority; MapMaster/Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0; Hkp-avniel/Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0; Wikimedia Commons.
Tags: Ancient Civilizations, Archaeology, Near East and Middle East Archaeology, Religion and Spirituality
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