What Lies Beneath This Hole in Israel Will Shock You

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Oh my goodness, I did not expect this.

[00:00:06]>> This hole on the ground is the scene of a modern crime, antiquities theft here in Israel. Hey guys, Joshua Swanson with CBN News. I've got the coolest story coming up about antiquities thieves.

[00:00:19]It's not cool that they're thieves, but it's very cool how the Israel Antiquities Authority goes after them, catches them, and prosecutes. Now, check this out. Now, well, first of all, let me just give you the lay of the land.

[00:00:30]Okay, here we are.

[00:00:33]This highway right here is the highway that connects Jericho and Jerusalem. It would have been the pilgrimage highway for anybody coming up to Jerusalem from the Galilee or anything like that. So, Jesus would have definitely walked right here. We're in the on the eastern side of Jerusalem. This mountain back here is m the back of Mount Scopus. I'll get a better view when I take you over to the sistern in a second. But this hole in the ground is the scene of a crime.

[00:01:01]Check it out.

[00:01:06]Just looks like a hole, right? Well, what it is is an ancient quarry. They used to they used to pull this chalky limestone out of the ground and make instruments for the second temple. We were just here with Eton, Dr. Eton Klene from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

[00:01:22]We're walking just like like I am now.

[00:01:25]And there's literally pottery everywhere on the ground. So I pick up a piece of pottery. Let me find one. And I show it to him. He's like, "Oh yeah, that's that's definitely Second Temple." Here, here's a piece of pottery. It's got a rim. Check this out.

[00:01:42]Yep. Second temple pottery. He just picks it up. Oh yeah, that's definitely Second Temple pottery. Because this whole area again was a pilgrimage road that led to the temple. People would have stopped here to possibly purchase stone instruments. They would have stopped here to for a drink. There's a giant sistern up here I'm going to show you in a second, which is wild. They would have uh they would have stopped here maybe for take to take a mikvah or a bath cleansing ritual bath headed up into Jerusalem. Basically, Dr. Klein said that this is the entrance to Jerusalem right here. Boom.

[00:02:19]The entrance to Jerusalem. But all around here, he said, were second temple burial grounds. So caves. And inside of those caves, of course, would be antiquities, would be valuable items that can be sold on the black market. So this spot right here was the scene of a sting operation where the Israel Antiquities Authority came and caught guys red-handed in the act at that spot I was just at, digging it up. Crazy.

[00:02:49]Okay, now I'm going to take some of our team with us inside this water system just to show you that you're just oh, you know, hanging out east Jerusalem, eastern side of Jerusalem. No big deal.

[00:03:01]And then there's a giant a giant hole that takes you into a water system.

[00:03:05]That's Well, let me just show you because they haven't seen it yet. So, check this out. Just a giant hole in the ground. Okay, you're going to freak out when you see what's inside.

[00:03:19]Okay.

[00:03:23]Okay. Hold on. Do you hear that? Do you hear the echo? Hear the echo. Echo.

[00:03:28]Echo. Echo.

[00:03:31]What?

[00:03:33]This is like, guys, this is like two stories. Look at this.

[00:03:38]This was a water system. All right. Come on in. Come on, Denise. Rachel, come on.

[00:03:43]All right. Well, let's get this.

[00:03:46]>> Wow. Wow. Very narrow.

[00:03:51]>> Watch your head.

[00:03:52]>> Okay.

[00:03:53]>> Look at the markings, you guys. This was carved out. This is wild.

[00:03:56]>> It's human. It's a human sistern.

[00:03:58]>> Okay.

[00:04:01]>> Oh, it's very dark.

[00:04:02]>> Watch your step right there.

[00:04:04]>> Oh my goodness.

[00:04:08]I did not expect this.

[00:04:15]>> Oh my god.

[00:04:17]It's gigantic. I'm 6'2. Here, show them.

[00:04:21]I'm I'm 6'2, everybody. Okay, ready?

[00:04:24]>> Oh my gosh.

[00:04:25]>> I'm standing up straight. I'm literally standing up straight. And this is a ledge. Pan over and show them. This is a ledge. And look at this. It's a walkway.

[00:04:35]Just a staircase down to your sistern.

[00:04:38]So, show the walls, Rachel. So, what Eton told us is that everything was plastered over.

[00:04:44]>> Yes, you can tell.

[00:04:45]>> Right. So that >> you can see the areas where the fats are.

[00:04:48]>> Yep. Where the water then So the water couldn't seep out. So that just shows you proves the point of why there were antiquities thieves here looting in this area. This was a major stop on your way to Jerusalem. Sistern, you know, just hanging out on the side of the highway between Jericho and Jerusalem. No big deal. Another crazy day living in Israel. Wow.

[00:05:14]Actually, this is a great perspective though to see how small Denise is getting in the >> That's true. That's true. Just shows you how big it is.

[00:05:24]>> See, so you can see Denise is disappearing. She's getting tiny in size.

[00:05:29]>> So, what we're looking at right now is hu stone. You can see the actual etchings from the tools they would have used, the marks they would have made into this ceiling, >> second temple period. That would have been few thousand years ago's day.

[00:05:44]>> Yep. No big deal. You never would have thought coming down this little teeny hole that this giant sistern is here, right? Never would have thought.

[00:05:53]>> No.

[00:05:54]>> This is wild.

[00:05:54]>> No.

[00:05:55]>> Wild. So, make sure you subscribe to CBN News YouTube channel and keep an eye out for this story about antiquities thieves and the heroes that protect the history of Israel at the Israel Antiquities Authority. All right. Cheers.