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The 2,000-year-old illustrations of ships and animals were found in a huge water cistern at an archaeological dig.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
The Israel Antiquities Authority has discovered a Roman-era water cistern in the southern city of Beersheba decorated with drawings of several ships, a sailor and animals, Israel Hayom reported Thursday.
The reservoir, measuring about 5.5 meters round and 12 meters deep, had been plastered to keep water from escaping, which some artist or artists from a long time ago .
1st-2nd Century
Dr. Davida Eisenberg-Dagan, an expert in engraving and rock art at the antiquities authority, who is in charge of the dig along with Avishai Levy-Hevroni, dated the find to the first or second century.
"As soon as we started cleaning up the mud and the sand, we had collected and filled the pit, and we saw it in the plaster," she said. "We start looking, and suddenly identify a ship. We keep looking, and find more lines, another ship, and another. … Until we have thirteen ships – Roman ships. "
The etchings were not the work of children, Eisenberg-Dagan said, "They reflect a knowledge of a ship's structure, there's technical understanding here. … This is someone who really knew – maybe he worked on ships, did business or built [them]. "
But they are not functional drawings, they are noted, nor were they in a place where people would come to appreciate the artwork. "It's really just the urge of a person who wants to draw, and this is the result," she said.
The cistern was obviously used by a village that was also uncovered less than a kilometer away, she said.
The dig is taking place as part of the Beersheba municipality's plan to establish a new neighborhood in the area.
The find will be cleaned, preserved, and opened to the public, joining other local attractions like the Tel Beersheba National Park, an archaeological site believed to be the remains of the biblical town where Abraham lived.
The digest was funded by the Beersheba Economic Development Company.
ancient IsraelIsrael archeologyRoman Empire
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