- Source: Scopus stone vessels cave
The Mount Scopus quarry and stone vessels production cave is a man-made underground quarrying and stone vessels manufacturing complex, dating to the late Second Temple period, more exactly the first century up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It is located on the northern slope of a promontory extending east from the Mount Scopus and Mount of Olives ridges, beside the road leading from Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adummim.
The cave was discovered in the summer of 1999. During the construction of a new road connecting Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim, a bulldozer created an opening in the cave ceiling, exposing a huge underground complex carved in chalkstone.
Background
From the Hasmonean dynasty onwards, there was an increase in observance of Jewish religious practice in the Land of Israel and specifically Jerusalem. Therefore there was more use of stone vessels as according to the Torah and the Halacha they do not contract impurity. Such vessels were discovered in highly Jewish populated areas throughout the Land of Israel, in Judea, Transjordan, Galilee and the Golan Heights, although the discovery of quarries and production sites is quite rare.
Description
The underground complex consists of two caves united by a sunken ovoid-shaped courtyard. Each cave consists of several chambers.
= Cave I
=The first cave covers an area of 4000 sqm, with a 4m-high ceiling near the entrance and 2m high at its rear. Due to its large size and the softness of chalkstone, pillars were left in even distances to prevent the collapse of the ceiling. This divided the cave into large halls and chambers. Along the walls were stone shelves which held oil lamps for the illumination of the inner and darker parts of the cave. Near the cave's entrance are four small rock-hewn rooms, which probably served as workshops.
= Cave II
=The second cave is smaller than the first and cut at a higher level than it. It is ovoid-shaped, 24m in length and 17m wide, covering an area of 1000 sqm, with the height of the ceiling this time gradually increasing as one moves away from the entrance. There were pillars carved out and left standing here as well. On one of the pillars somebody has used charcoal to write 'ON, IN' in Greek letters above a delicate drawing of leaves, of the kind used as incised decoration for ossuaries found in tombs dating to the same period as the caves.
Archaeological findings
= Stone vessels
=A wide range of defective stone vessels were found inside the cave complex, all discarded after being damaged during production. For the first time, ossuary fragments were found within a manufacturing site. Other stone findings included table vessels, delicate vessels and large storage jars, known as kallals.
= Coins
=Four coins were found in the caves, the oldest one dating to 54 CE, minted by Roman procurator Antonius Felix, and three dating back to the Great Revolt: one coin from the second year of the revolt, 67/8 CE, and two from the third year of the revolt, 68/9 CE. All the findings in this underground complex are evidence that the cave was active throughout the first century up to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
Relation to Bethphage inscription
This discovery possibly sheds some light on the 1910 discovery of an inscription in a burial cave at Bethphage. The inscription, engraved into an ossuary cover, includes twenty-three names, and next to each name a small amount of money. These names might have belonged to workers of an ossuary production workshop, possibly the workshop found on Mount Scopus.
See also
Jewish purity laws
Stone vessels in ancient Judaea