Several different news outlets (MSN, HaAretz, UPI, and others) are carrying the story from the Israeli Antiquities Authority press release about excavations at Ein Asawir (En Esur) of a large 5000 year old city in the north of modern day Israel (southeast of Haifa, in the Sharon plain). The 5000 year old city was also apparently built on another city/village which was inhabited 2000 years earlier, and this earlier city apparently included a temple structure. According to the reports, the location “spanned 160 acres and is estimated to have had 6,000 inhabitants.”

From the UPI article:

‘During excavations under the city’s houses, archaeologists found a religious temple that was 2,000 years older.

The temple was filled with evidence from various religious rituals including a large stone basin used to hold liquids, burnt animal bones suggesting sacrificial offerings and rare figures.

“These surprising findings allow us, for the first time, to define the cultural characteristics of the inhabitants of this area in ancient times,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

Millions of pottery fragments, flint tools and basalt stone vessels were also uncovered at the site.’

The site was first discovered as a highway interchange was being planned and built through the region, and, sadly, according to HaAretz that highway will still go in as planned, resulting in the eventual destruction of the site.

Post Video Link from JewishPressTV

It should be included in the header of this post, but in case it doesn’t show up in some feed formats, here is the video from JewishPressTV about the site:

(Post image taken from the JewishPressTV YouTube video.)