Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intervened late this past fall to have an archaeological dig at a cemetery in Acco, just north of Tel Aviv, stopped because of apparent pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are convinced the cemetery contains Jewish remains. Archaeologists insist the site was a pagan cemetery and contains no Jewish remains.
A salvage dig of the cemetery by Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists had been underway for six months and caused ire within the ultra-Orthodox community because of the possibility that it may contain Jewish graves. According to Yotam Tepper, the director of the excavation, the graves, which date from the first to fourth century A.D., are not Jewish. Most appear to belong to Roman Legion soldiers, though Tepper believes the cemetery was also used by the local Roman community.
“There was a Roman colony in Acco, and there was a community here with soldiers, veterans, their wives and children,” Tepper explained. “This was not a cemetery just for soldiers, but for the Roman community here,” he said. “We are speaking of a Roman pagan cemetery; there have been no finds which would indicate this was a Jewish cemetery.”
Indeed, a day before the stop-work order came into effect, excavators found a section of marble inscribed in Latin that was apparently part of a tombstone. The inscription, Tepper said, is yet another indication that the cemetery was “undoubtedly not Jewish.”
The second century A.D. inscription bears the name of Ulpius Martinos, a soldier in the Seventh Roman Legion under Claudios, which took part in the suppression of Jewish revolts in the Galilee.
IAA archaeologists have found other signs of the non-Jewish nature of the cemetery, particularly pagan burial artifacts such as stone funerary piles and altars. They also discovered burnt human bones in pots—possible evidence of cremation—as well as animal bones near stone altars that were most likely used for ritual sacrifices.
According to Tepper, most of the human bones belonged to males between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, although they have also identified the remains of five women and a few children. Other notable finds include a number of mausoleums, some with plaster and frescos, and a cache of 130 dinars, the equivalent of about two months’ salary, buried with one of the Legionaries.
The salvage dig was undertaken during the construction of an underground tunnel for vehicular traffic under the Haifa-Jaffa train route. According to media reports, Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit came under heavy political pressure by ultra-Orthodox circles to halt the excavation. The reports also say that the ultra-Orthodox demanded that a $5.5 million bridge be built at the junction in order to raise the road and thus separate it from the cemetery. This would delay the project by at least three years, the reports said. The project has already cost $3.3 million.
“The dig has been stopped and now we are waiting,” said Tepper. So far he has only excavated a small half-acre section of the cemetery, but he had hoped to excavate another half-acre before his work was stopped.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intervened late this past fall to have an archaeological dig at a cemetery in Acco, just north of Tel Aviv, stopped because of apparent pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are convinced the cemetery contains Jewish remains. Archaeologists insist the site was a pagan cemetery and contains no Jewish remains. A salvage dig of the cemetery by Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists had been underway for six months and caused ire within the ultra-Orthodox community because of the possibility that it may contain Jewish graves. According to Yotam Tepper, the director of the excavation, the […]
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