The Discovery of a “Magnificent and Untouched” Burial Chamber in Megiddo
Jerusalem. Archaeologists say they are stunned with
the discovery of a “magnificent and untouched” burial chamber in the ancient
city of Megiddo known from the Bible.
National Geographic states that the
extraordinary discovery may
provide some insight into the royal dynasty that ruled that region to the South from Haifa (present day
Israel)
before its conquest by Egypt in the early 15th century B.C.
For about 5000 years, since 3000 B.C. to 1918, Megiddo
was an important strategic point for international military and trade routes.
Megiddo is mentioned in the Revelation of John the
Theologian 16:16 as the place called “Armageddon”, which comes from Har-Megiddo,
or 'Hill of Megiddo'.
Archaeologists state that they have discovered the
chamber of the 15th century B.C. – the period when Megiddo was
besieged for 7 months by the by the forces of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose
III. The city surrendered, and Thutmose III turned Canaan into a province of
his empire.
Israel
Finkelstein and Mario Martin of Tel Aviv University and Matthew Adams of the
W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeology, who have been
conducting archaeological excavations there since 1994, discovered an underground corridor near the palaces of the bronze
age in 2016.
The discovered chamber contained the remains of
three people — a man, a woman and a child —adorned
with delicate gold and
silver jewelry. The male body had been crowned with a gold diadem, which proves a high level of the local craftspeople’s skill.
“We are
speaking of an elite family burial because of the monumentality of the building itself, the findings are rich and because of the fact that the
burial is located close to the royal palace,” – Finkelstein explains.
Moreover, in addition to the three
individual burials, archaeologists found other
human remains that had been
interred at an earlier point according to the burial traditions of that region.
Melissa Cradic,
an excavation team member, said that
the condition of the three found bodies in comparison with the others that had
been removed, makes sure that they were especially important.
The DNA study of the bodies found in Megiddo is supposed to define
whether the
common citizens of the
Canaanite city were of the same background as the royal ones.
The results of the study can change the perception of
the Canaanite population, since scientists assume foe a long time that the hurrians,
the mountain people, that appeared in that region in 3000-4000 B.C., could play
an important role in the building of the first cities in the Middle East.
“These
studies can just
revolutionize everything we know about
the population of Canaan," - says
Finkelstein
Source: http://www.sedmitza.ru/text/7947946.html
