Jerusalem is an historic city, built over 5,500 years ago. However, despite its constant habitation over that time, archaeologists have just unearthed a new find and it’s leaving them scratching their heads.
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00:00 Jerusalem is an historic city, built over 5,500 years ago.
00:08 However, despite its constant habitation over that time, archaeologists have just unearthed
00:12 a new find, and it's positively stumping them.
00:16 These are ducks that were recently unearthed in the Israeli city, and experts have no idea
00:20 what they were used for.
00:21 The researchers' initial theory was that they were perhaps once used for blood flow
00:24 related to ritual sacrifice.
00:26 However, a forensic analysis has revealed no traces of ancient blood present in the
00:31 tubes.
00:32 The ducks are in two groups, each of which are around 30 feet apart.
00:35 Here's the director of excavation with the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Yiftach Shaleb,
00:40 to explain.
00:41 What was the purpose of this installation, we don't really know.
00:44 There are no parallels to such an installation, not here in Israel, neither in other places
00:50 in the world.
00:51 We know that the installation is dated to the late 9th century BCE, almost 2,800 years
00:59 ago, during the time of the first temple period in Jerusalem.
01:03 The archaeologists add that the ducks didn't provide flow in any one direction, or deposit
01:08 into an apparent basin, suggesting they were also not used for sewage or rainfall.
01:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:16 (upbeat music)