August
23
/ 2023
Archaeologists participating in the ongoing Tel Shimron excavations in the Jezreel Valley of northern Israel recently unearthed the first section of an arched, vaulted passageway with steps that they’ve dated to approximately 1,800 BC. This astonishingly well-crafted work of ancient engineering is the earliest passageway or covered stairway made from corbelled mudbrick ever found in the southern Levant, showing that this traditional form of building has a surprisingly long history in the region. The co-director of the Tel Shimron Excavations, archaeologist Daniel Master from Harvard University, told the Jerusalem Post that this vaulted passage is “an ancestor to the mudbrick radial arch in the gate at Tel Dan and is an extraordinary example of Mesopotamian mudbrick technology.” In addition to
