JERUSALEM (CNN) — An archaeological
dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and
oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.
The wall is built of
enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built
it.
Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut
stones is a marvel to archaeologists.
"To build straight walls up 8 meters … I don't know how to
do it today without mechanical equipment," said the excavation's director, Ronny
Reich. "I don't think that any engineer today without electrical power [could]
do it."
Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities
Authority added, "You see all the big boulders — all the boulders are 4 to 5
tons."
The discovered section is 24 meters (79 feet) long.
"However, it is thought the fortification is much longer because it continues
west beyond the part that was exposed," the Israel Antiquities Authority said in
a news release.
It was found inside the City of David, an archaeological excavation site outside the Old City of East
Jerusalem on a slope of the Silwan Valley.
The wall is believed to have been built by the Canaanites,
an ancient pagan people who the Bible says inhabited Jerusalem and other parts
of the Middle East before the advent of monotheism.
Watch report on the discovery of the ancient wall
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"This is the most massive wall that has ever been uncovered
in the City of David," Reich and Shukron said in a joint statement about the
find. It marks the first time "that such massive construction that predates the
Herodian period has been discovered in Jerusalem."
It appears to be part of a "protected, well-fortified
passage that descends to the spring tower from some sort of fortress that stood
at the top of the hill," according to the joint statement.
The spring "is located in the weakest and most vulnerable
place in the area. The construction of a protected passage, even though it
involves tremendous effort, is a solution for which there are several parallels
in antiquity, albeit from periods that are later than the remains described
here."
Such walls were used primarily to defend against marauding
desert nomads looking to rob the city, said Reich, a professor at the University
of Haifa.
"We are dealing with a gigantic fortification, from the
standpoint of the structure's dimensions, the thickness of its walls and the
size of the stones that were incorporated in its construction," the joint
statement said.
Water from the spring is used by modern inhabitants of Jerusalem.
"The new discovery shows that the picture
regarding Jerusalem's eastern defenses and the ancient water system in the
Middle Bronze Age 2 is still far from clear," Reich said. "Despite the fact that
so many have excavated on this hill, there is a very good chance that extremely
large and well-preserved architectural elements are still hidden in it and
waiting to be uncovered."