How archaeology became another fault line in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood

How archaeology became another fault line in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood

LONDON: Israeli police reportedly entered a home in Silwan this week while searching for suspects in a family dispute. Instead, authorities said they found a nearly 2,000-year-old burial chamber beneath the Palestinian family’s residence.

Israeli media, including The Jerusalem Post, reported that the Israel Antiquities Authority identified the tomb as dating to the Second Temple period, between 516 B.C. and 70 A.D. The chamber reportedly includes narrow burial niches known in Hebrew as “kokhim.”

For the Palestinian family living above it, however, the discovery raises concerns about what comes next, particularly as Silwan residents have long faced demolitions, land confiscations, evictions and restrictions on construction by Israeli authorities.

The tomb was reportedly discovered during a police investigation into a violent clash between two feuding families in the Ein Al-Lozeh area of Silwan on Aug. 22.