Horvat Tevet, a site with remains from the Iron Age (1200-600 BC), has been attacked and damaged by vandals. The site is located in the Jezreel Valley about 6 miles (10 km) south of Nazareth. Horvat Tevet is next to Afula Illit and along the route of a future bypass road. From the Jerusalem Post:
Vandals attacked and heavily damaged an Antiquities Authority site near Afula overnight Wednesday, destroying findings dating back to the First Temple era.
“All the signs” pointed to a group of haredi activists as the main suspects, due to their opposition to what they describe as the desecration of graves, Dror Barshad, an archeologist for the authority’s northern district, told The Jerusalem Post.
“They rioted at another archeological site nearby, at Yakuk,” Barshad said. “With no legal authority, they take the law into their own hands and try to dictate where roads and tunnels can or can’t be built.”
The same group vandalized a second archeological site near the Kinneret last month, he said.
The full story and photos are here. The Hebrew version of the Ynet article includes a photo of the site before the destruction. A report of the 2008 excavations and a photo of a Late Bronze tomb was published last month in Hadashot Arkheologiyot.
HT: Joseph Lauer
