Amanda Borschel-Dan is editor-in-chief of the Times of Israel Jewish World and Archaeology.
“This is the first time that a soap shop as old as this has been discovered, which allows us to recreate the classic production procedure of the soap industry. That’s why it’s unique. We have known vital centers of soapmaking from a much later era, the Ottoman era. They were discovered in Jerusalem, Nablus, Jaffa and Gaza,” Kogen-Zehavi said in the press release.
The mayor of Rahat, Fahiz Abu Saheeben, said in the press release that he was satisfied that “the excavations revealed the Islamic roots of Rahat.” The excavations were carried out in cooperation with the IAA, the local Bedouin network and the Bedouin Settlement and Development Authority in the Negev, prior to the structuring of a new district in Rahat. “We hope to build a guest center that tourists and the local network can enjoy,” said Abu Saheeben.
Assuming the center of the network is built, in addition to imaginable souvenirs of ancient olive oil soaps, visitors will be able to play one of two ancient games discovered in an underground chamber on the site.
One of the board games is called Windmill, a strategy game known for excavations from Roman times to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The moment is a board game with cubes or sticks called Hounds and Jackals or 58 Holes, which was played in early Egypt and spread to the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia around 2000 BC. C., according to the statement. Press.
It is the first time that archaeologists have found such games in the early Islamic period, said IAA’s Avinoam Lehavi in the video.
The games “illuminate the lives of the inhabitants,” said IAA’s northern Negev district archaeologist Svetlana Tallis.