A recently studied ancient structure unearthed on the eastern slope of the Walls National Park in Jerusalem is believed to have served ritualistic purposes during the First Temple period.

This structure, containing eight rooms, held various artifacts, including an altar, a standing stone, an oil press, and a wine press.

According to excavation director Eli Shukron, writing in the journal *Antiqot*, the structure was likely used by Judean residents for religious practices.

The remarkably well-preserved structure, uncovered during Israel Antiquities Authority excavations in the City of David, is dated to the First Temple era.

Shukron noted that the site, sealed with 8th-century BCE fill, had been abandoned by that time. The standing stone remained in its original position, and the other rooms showed significant preservation.

Shukron’s article posits that the eight rock-hewn rooms served ritualistic functions, located relatively near the Temple Mount (a few hundred meters away).

Unique for its type and period in Jerusalem, it is among the few such structures found in Israel.

The 220-square-meter structure comprises eight rooms with distinct uses.

One room housed an oil press; another, a wine press.

Other rooms contained features such as a carved installation with a drainage channel (identified as an altar), a large standing stone, and a floor with V-shaped carvings of uncertain purpose.

Shukron suggests the carvings may have supported a tripod used in rituals.

An adjacent cave holds artifacts dating to the 8th century BCE, including cooking pots, jars with ancient Hebrew inscriptions, loom weights, scarabs, stamped seals, and grain-crushing stones.

Shukron and his team believe the structure was in use until the 8th century BCE, during the reign of the Judean kings.

Shukron attributes the structure’s abandonment to King Hezekiah’s religious reforms in the 8th century BCE, which centralized worship at the Jerusalem Temple and abolished other ritual sites.

The study notes that ritual sites existed outside the Temple during the First Temple period, and Hezekiah and Josiah’s reforms sought to eliminate them.

Ze’ev Orenstein, City of David’s director of internal affairs, stated, “Nearly 3,000 years later, Jerusalem’s Biblical heritage continues to be relevant, its significance growing for billions worldwide.” He emphasized the enduring, timely relevance of Jerusalem’s Biblical heritage.

The northern part of the structure was initially discovered in 1909 by British explorer Montague Parker. Shukron’s excavation, spanning several seasons, began in 2010.

Orenstein concluded that this discovery “affirms the Jewish people’s ongoing 3,000+ year-old bond with Jerusalem – not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact – from Bible times to the modern day.”