JERUSALEM (JTA) — An ancient road in Jerusalem that pilgrims used to reach the Second Temple was uncovered during excavations.
The excavation in the City of David was made public Sunday by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The road has been known for more than 100 years, when it was discovered in the late 1890s by Professor Frederick Bliss and Archibald Dickey of the British Palestine Exploration Fund. They covered and filled in the road at the end of their excavation. Other sections of the road also were excavated and covered over in 1937 and from 1961 to 1967.
The road was uncovered in the Shiloach Pool Excavation, about 600 yards south of the Temple Mount. It represents the central thoroughfare of Jerusalem that ascended from the northwest corner of the Second Temple-era Shiloach Pool to the north.
The section of road is built in the Second Temple style, which comprises alternating wide and narrow steps.
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