Mysterious, pyramid-shaped stairs discovered in Jerusalem

Researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have discovered a mysterious flight of pyramid-shaped, podium-like stairs located next to the destroyed Second Temple in the City of David, an archaeological site of ancient Jerusalem, various media outlets are reporting.

According to Discovery News and United Press International (UPI), the staircase is made from large ashlar (finely cut) stones and is believed to be approximately 2,000 years told. It was found alongside a stepped street which once led Jewish pilgrims from an ancient ritual bath, the Pool of Siloama, to the temple, and was likely built in the first half of the first century AD.

Archaeologists explained that they have never encountered a structure like this before, and thus are not certain what the purpose of the staircase might have been. There are references to stone platforms used for auctions or as ancient lost-and-found centers in rabbinic texts, but there have never been any structures like this found in Jerusalem or anywhere else in ancient Israel.

“The structure exposed is unique,” Nahshon Szanton and Dr. Joe Uziel, the archaeologists who led the excavation on behalf of the IAA, said in a statement. “To date such a structure has yet to be found along the street in the numerous excavations that have taken place in Jerusalem and to the best of our knowledge outside of it. For this reason, its exact use remains enigmatic.”

Pottery vessels, glassware also found at the site

Szanton and Uziel added that the unusual staircase “is built along the street in a place that is clearly visible from afar by passers-by making their way to the Temple,” and that they believe that it was “a kind of monumental podium that attracted the public’s attention when walking on the city’s main street,” possibly for government announcements, news or street preaching.

The IAA also reported finding dozens of whole pottery vessels, stone vessels and glassware at the foot of the pyramid-shaped staircase. The excavation site is the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, they said, and the work is being carried out in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the City of David Foundation.

The podium was dated to the Second Temple Period, which ran from 538 BC to 70 AD, and the street which it is located next to was one of the largest construction projects built in Jerusalem in this era. The Second Temple period ended when the city was sacked and the temple plundered by the Romans, who used the treasures of King Herod the Great to build the Colosseum.

“Given the lack of a clear archaeological parallel to the stepped-structure, the purpose of the staircase remains a mystery,” Szanton and Uziel said. “It is certainly possible the rabbinical sources provide valuable information about structures, such as this, although for the time being there is no definitive proof.”

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Feature Image: Shai Halevy/IAA