This Ancient Pyramid Found in the Judean Desert May Have Been a Ptolemaic Tax Collector’s Station
The official structure, stuffed with significant coins and Greek papyri, was likely later transformed into someone’s grave
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Israeli researchers have discovered a strange pyramidal structure in the Judean Desert, and the site is filled with archaeological treasure. Located near the coast of the Dead Sea, just north of the Zohar Valley, the structure is thought to be some 2,200 years old. On its grounds, researchers have found Greek papyri, weapons, bronze vessels, furniture and historically significant coins.
As excavation leaders Matan Toledano, Eitan Klein and Amir Ganor say in a statement issued by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the pyramid is “one of the richest and most intriguing archaeological excavations ever found in the Judean Desert.” Perched on a desert mound, the structure is made of hand-cut rocks, each weighing over 400 pounds.
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“The heap is five or six meters [16 to 20 feet] high above the surface of the hill, made of huge stones,” as Klein tells the Times of Israel’s Rossella Tercatin. “At first, we thought the site could be just a tomb, but later, we noticed the shape of the original walls, and we understood that the structure was a building. … Eventually, we identified it as a tower or fortress dating back to the Hellenistic period, or 2,200 years ago.”
The region’s Hellenistic period—named for pervasive Greek influence—began back in 332 B.C.E., when Palestine was conquered by Macedonian King Alexander the Great. After that, the wider region was ruled by two Macedonian empires: Egypt’s Ptolemaic kingdom, a dynasty founded by Ptolemy I Soter in 305 B.C.E., and the Seleucid kingdom, founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 312 B.C.E. Both founders had served as generals under Alexander the Great.
At the site of the recently discovered pyramid, researchers have uncovered bronze coins representing this history. Some are stamped with marks of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and others are marked with the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
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The antiquities authority recruited volunteers to help dig out the site this spring. Per a social media statement, the excavation’s first week yielded the coins, “exceptional bronze vessels,” remains of furniture, an ancient needle and button, seeds, colored beads, and papyrus—Egyptian paper made of fused plant fibers—marked with Greek writing. As Klein tells the Times, these writings might have been tax documents.
“We know that the main road linking Edom—modern-day Jordan—to Gaza passed directly beneath our structure,” he says. “We believe the building served to safeguard the road and may have been used by Ptolemaic officials to collect taxes from travelers.”
The pyramid’s excavation in the Judean Desert is part of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s wider campaign “to save archaeological finds endangered by constant illicit excavation and thieving in this region.” Other findings in recent years include scrolls hidden in caves, papyrus fragments, wooden utensils and leather goods.
Such ancient artifacts, including those recently found at the pyramid site, have survived in the region for millennia due to the desert’s dryness—ideal for preserving organic materials that would rot in wet climates. As Eli Escusido, director of the antiquities authority, says in the statement, “The discoveries are exciting and even emotional, and their significance for archaeological and historical research is enormous.”
The Hellenistic period pyramid is an “enthralling historical mystery,” the researchers say in the statement. “Every moment new findings are discovered, and we are filled with anticipation for what else the next three weeks might produce.”