Where were Herod the Great's royal alabaster bathtubs quarried? (IMAGE)
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From the Middle Bronze Age, Egypt played a crucial role in the appearance of calcite-alabaster artifacts in Israel, and the development of the local gypsum-alabaster industry. The absence of ancient calcite-alabaster quarries in the Southern Levant (modern day Israel and Palestine) led to the assumption that all calcite-alabaster vessels found in the Levant originated from Egypt, while poorer quality vessels made of gypsum were local products. Until now this long-held assumption was never scientifically tested. But the recent identification of a calcite-alabaster quarry in the Te’omim cave, located on the western slopes of the Jerusalem hills (near modern-day Beit Shemesh, Israel), calls this hypothesis into question. A new Bar-Ilan Univeristy study, recently published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, scientifically refutes the hypothesis and, for the first time, allows the distinction between calcite-alabaster originating in Israel from that originating in Egypt. Furthermore, it confirms that calcite-alabaster objects, such as Herod the Great's alabaster bathtubs, were quarried in Israel rather than Egypt. Photo: Researcher Ayala Amir beside the wall of the quarry, signs of quarrying-scars and cessation of quarrying are visible on the quarry’s walls and floor
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Prof. Boaz Zissu, Bar-Ilan University
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