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  • NEWS FEATURE

Hundreds of Israel’s archaeological sites are vanishing under concrete

Israel is in the middle of a building boom to house its rapidly growing population, but some researchers fear the country isn’t doing enough to conserve its wealth of archaeological sites.
  1. Josie Glausiusz

    1. Josie Glausiusz is a science journalist in Israel.

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Aerial view of a main road running through an archaeological excavation site in Israel

Road building threatens the site of Tel Beit Shemesh, dating to at least the seventh century bc. Credit: Dr Z. Lederman, Tel Beth-Shemesh Excavations

The face carved in limestone is a vestige of a vanished world. With two dots for eyes and a slight hint of a smile, the 7,000-year-old figurine could be a ritual object, perhaps an amulet, or even a simple doll. The thumb-sized face is one of several dozen figures — mostly of goats and sheep — unearthed during an archaeological exploration lasting almost three years at En Esur in Israel1, about 52 kilometres north of Tel Aviv.

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Nature 582, 474-477 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01811-w

References

  1. Elad, I. & Paz, Y. ‘En Esur (‘Asawir). Excavations and Surveys in Israel Vol. 130 (Israel Antiquities Authority, 2018).

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  2. Haddad, E. & Ben-Ari, N. Bet Shemesh, Tel Bet Shemesh. Excavations and Surveys in Israel Vol. 131 (Israel Antiquities Authority, 2019).

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