City of the Neolithic period discovered near Jerusalem. It is a normal city with streets, houses, cemetery, workshops. The city was discovered during road construction works.
It is one of the largest settlements of the era that have been discovered. "It is the first time that a city of this size has been discovered in Israel. It dates back to the Neolithic era, 9,000 years ago," archaeologists said, adding that the city must have had 2-3,000 inhabitants.
Scientists discovered that the houses had ceramic floors. Obsidian objects from Anatolia and shells from the Red Sea were also found, which means that the inhabitants had commercial contacts with the said areas.
Arrowheads, flails and knives as well as pearl bracelets were also found, as well as large quantities of lentils which were even preserved in good condition! Graves full of finds were also found, but also animal bones and
The city was discovered just 5 km from Jerusalem. Until now, scientists believed that the area of Judea was not particularly densely populated at that time.