Ancient biblical waterworks found in Israel

RAMAT RACHEL – Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed an ancient water system which was modified by the conquering Persians to turn the desert into a paradise.

The network of reservoirs, drain pipes and underground tunnels served one of the grandest palaces in the biblical kingdom of Judea. Archaeologists first discovered the palace in 1954, a structure built on a 2,4 hectare site where the communal Ramat Rachel farm now stands.Recent excavations unearthed nearly 70 square metres of a unique water system.”They had found a huge palace …even nicer than the palaces in Jerusalem, (dating) from the late Iron Age to the end of the biblical period in the 7th century,” Oded Lipschits, a Tel Aviv University archaeologist, said.The infrastructure of the palace was remodeled throughout the centuries to fit the needs of the Babylonians, Persians, Romans and Hasmoneans who ruled the Holy Land, said Lipschits, who heads the dig with an academic from Germany’s University of Heidelberg.But it was the Persians, who took control of the region around 539 BC from the Babylonians, who renovated the water system and turned it into a thing of beauty.Lipschits said they added small waterfalls to try to turn a desert into a paradise.”Imagine on this land plants and water rushing and streaming here,” Lipschits said.”This was important to someone who finds aesthetics important, for someone who wanted to feel as though they are not just in some remote corner in the desert.”ReutersArchaeologists first discovered the palace in 1954, a structure built on a 2,4 hectare site where the communal Ramat Rachel farm now stands.Recent excavations unearthed nearly 70 square metres of a unique water system.”They had found a huge palace …even nicer than the palaces in Jerusalem, (dating) from the late Iron Age to the end of the biblical period in the 7th century,” Oded Lipschits, a Tel Aviv University archaeologist, said.The infrastructure of the palace was remodeled throughout the centuries to fit the needs of the Babylonians, Persians, Romans and Hasmoneans who ruled the Holy Land, said Lipschits, who heads the dig with an academic from Germany’s University of Heidelberg.But it was the Persians, who took control of the region around 539 BC from the Babylonians, who renovated the water system and turned it into a thing of beauty.Lipschits said they added small waterfalls to try to turn a desert into a paradise.”Imagine on this land plants and water rushing and streaming here,” Lipschits said.”This was important to someone who finds aesthetics important, for someone who wanted to feel as though they are not just in some remote corner in the desert.”Reuters