Archaeologists make unusual find near site where Ark of the Covenant was once kept

Archaeologists uncovered ancient food remains at biblical Shiloh, the site where the Bible says the Ark of the Covenant was housed for centuries.(Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images;Jordan McClinton)

�some sort of accident” likely started a fire — and ended up preserving the olives for thousands of years.

“Once it started on fire, then it caught that whole area on fire,” he said.“That’s what it appears to me.But next year we’ll have to excavate a broader area to better understand exactly what it was.”

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Before reaching the jars, archaeologists excavated anIsraelite-period ritual depositcontaining roughly 10,000 animal bones, pottery vessels and eight gold and silver objects, including pendants and earrings, Stripling said.

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The deposit was not an ordinary garbage pit, he said — but a favissa, where theremains of sacrificial offeringswere deliberately buried rather than discarded with everyday waste.

The ancient discovery was made beneath an Israelite-period ritual deposit at biblical Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept before its capture by the Philistines.(Art Images via Getty Images;Jordan McClinton)

“We went through about two meters [6.6 feet] of heavy sort of tumble, and then we came down on these storage jars,” he said.

“At the top, we could see the rims.So we were very careful not to remove any pieces of it, and to keep going down deeper and wider so that we could leave them intact.”

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Eventually, the team made so much progress that it needed ladders to enter and exit the excavation trench.

Though the scale of the olive pits was surprising, the types of food were not.Stripling describedthe lentils and olivesas “staples of the Mediterranean diet.”

“We went through about two meters [6.6 feet] of heavy sort of tumble, and then we came down on these storage jars,” said the excavation director.(Jordan McClinton)

Stripling said the Israelites who later occupied Shiloh likely had no idea that much olderCanaanite storage jarslay buried beneath the ritual deposit they created.

“These [burned olive pits] are ideal for radiocarbon dating.”

“For thousands of years, the Israelites who deposited the remains of the sacrificial system above the jars didn’t even know they were there,” Stripling said.

He added that the jars are being restored atTel Aviv University, where researchers hope to learn more about the artifacts.

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“I will be shocked if the radiocarbon dates do not come back as Middle Bronze Age,” he said.“These [burned olive pits] are ideal for radiocarbon dating.”

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The artifacts were found at Tel Shiloh, as seen above.(iStock)

Stripling said the team also plans to expand excavations next year to determine whether the jars were stored in a kitchen, storage room or another part of the ancient settlement.

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“These jars have been buried there waiting for us to find them,” he said.