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Israel's first underwater museum opens for public
Bureau Report
Zee News Limited
Scuba divers swimming under the blue Mediterranean sea surface are not always looking for fish, in one spot they are checking out exhibits in Israel's first underwater museum in the city of Caesarea... And for the first time in about 2,000 years, the ancient harbour is open for business. The tourism business, that is... Among the artifacts scattered underwater are remains of a sunken Roman vessel, giant anchors, loading piers, marble and granite columns and an ancient breakwater... American archaeologists discovered the ruins 30 years ago and, since last year, have worked to preserve the remnants, some of which once rested above the surface, to create Israel's first underwater archaeological museum... King Herod named the port city in 22 BC to honour his patron Caesar Augustus and commissioned the building of the harbour, as well as other major projects, many of whose remains are now on display.

Israel scientists find underground tunnels
Associated Press
May 25, 2006
Underground chambers and tunnels used during a Jewish revolt against the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago have been uncovered in northern Israel, archaeologists said. The Jews laid in supplies and were preparing to hide from the Romans during their revolt in A.D. 66-70, the experts said. The pits, which are linked by short tunnels, would have served as a concealed subterranean home... The underground chambers at the Israeli Arab village of Kfar Kana, north of Nazareth, were built from housing materials common at the time and hidden directly beneath the floors of aboveground homes - giving families direct access to the hideouts. Other refuges found from the time of the revolt are hewn out of rock... Built like igloos, the chambers are wide at the base and small at the top. The tunnels between them are short and the ceilings are too low for standing upright... The Jewish revolt against Roman rule ended in A.D. 70, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The ancient Jews at the Kfar site built their houses over the ruins of a fortified Iron Age city, reusing some of the stones from the original settlement. Then they dug through 5 feet of debris from the ruins to build their hideaway complex... The original settlement, which dates from the 10th and 9th centuries B.C., is also a new discovery.

reprise:

Remains of Second Temple era Jewish village discovered
by Itim
January 1 2006
A large number of stone tools were discovered, the use of which was important to the religious practices of the inhabitants. Other artifacts uncovered included wine vases imported from Italy and Greece and Roman glass rings -the first of their kind discovered in ancient Judea.

Seker-Parnas added that the village had apparently continued to be inhabited under Roman military rule, leading to new theories about the outcome of the First Jewish Revolt.

Roman racecourse uncovered in Israel
Monday 17th June 2002
The Jewish-built stadium, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee... was uncovered near Tiberias, an ancient city built by Jews. Most of it has yet to be unearthed, but Moshe Hartal, the archaeologist overseeing the dig, said it was probably about 200 yards long... The structure was also apparently the site written about by Josephus where, in AD 67, 37,000 Jewish prisoners were held after they lost to the Romans in a naval battle on the nearby Sea of Galilee, Mr Hartal said. The old and weak prisoners were executed and the stronger ones sold off as slaves, Josephus wrote.

This, and some extra stuff.

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