Archaeologists have discovered in Jericho an ancient water filter

Excavations were conducted in the Palestinian territory, bought by the Russian clergy in the XIX century and only recently returned to Russia. Scientists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered mosaics, coins, a pipeline and a complex water purification system of the Byzantine Empire (V-VII centuries AD) during excavations of the Biblical Jericho.

The results of the work are described in the new monograph "Byzantine Jericho", also they are reported in the press release that was received by the editorial office. The expedition conducted excavations in Jericho since 2010. Their goal was to study previously little-known segment in the history of the legendary biblical city - the period of the Byzantine Empire.

Work was conducted on the site returned to Russia by the Palestinian Authority in 2008. The Russian clergy acquired land here since 1873, but after the October Revolution it was permanently lost.

Archaeologists have discovered a number of buildings of the Byzantine era, many coins of the times of the Hasmoneans (1st-2nd centuries AD), Roman, Byzantine and the period of the kingdoms of the Crusaders. Also managed to find a treasure of bronze church utensils - a lamp whose appearance has no analogues among the previously discovered by scientists objects of that era.

The most unexpected finding was the medieval water system. It was organized according to the late Roman type, including several cisterns and concrete ducts connecting them. In one of them, after clearing, the researchers found a coarse filter, which saved the water from debris.

All the excavated multi-colored Byzantine mosaics archaeologists subjected to the X-ray phase method of investigation. This is a very unusual research technique, which allowed to date the mosaics by the time not later than the first quarter of the 7th century. With its help, the components of sugar molasses were found in the solution that fastened the mosaic.

Such a situation could develop only if in the same room it was welded. Sugar in the early Byzantine period was extremely expensive and almost never used. In Jericho, he, according to written sources, was used only to obtain the famous Jericho balm in the Middle Ages.

New excavations of Jericho draw a picture of a quite livable by the medieval standards of the settlement, where pilgrims and travelers who traveled from Asia Minor to holy places and Egypt flocked.

All this is somewhat different from the prevailing in the past ideas about the medieval Jericho as a small and insignificant settlement. Jericho is the oldest city on earth. It originated in the Mesolithic age (up to 10,000 years ago) next to a large source (the source of the prophet Elisha, or the Royal Source).

There are not so many springs in this area, therefore the settlement existed here always, including after the destruction of the city and the genocide of its population by the ancient Jews during the conquest of Palestine. Because of such a long history, some of its stretches have so far been studied so poorly that until the new excavations the medieval Jericho was almost unknown to archaeologists.