Taxes and Death

Archaeologists have found a strange pyramidal structure in the Judean Desert, located near the coast of the Dead Sea, filled with Greek papyri, weapons, bronze vessels, furniture, and coins. 

It may have been an ancient tax collection site, say archaeologists.  

“(It is) one of the richest and most intriguing archeological excavations ever found in the Judean Desert,” excavation leaders told the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

When modern-day Palestine was conquered by the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, the region entered its Hellenistic period – referring to Greek influence – in 332 BCE. The region was then ruled by two Macedonian empires, the Ptolemaic kingdom and the Seleucid kingdom, both founded by two of Alexander the Great’s former generals. 

The bronze coins found at the site recount this history, as some have prints of the Ptolemaic dynasty and others of one of the Seleucid kings. At the same time, other treasures found include coins, “bronze vessels,” furniture debris, an ancient needle and button, seeds, colored beads, and documents written on papyrus – the typical Egyptian paper made from a plant that grows along the Nile.  

The papyrus sheets were written in Greek and likely were tax documents, according to Klein. The main road connecting modern-day Jordan to Gaza was directly under the pyramid, so the researchers think that the structure was built to safeguard the road and as a place for Ptolemaic officials to collect taxes from travelers. 

Rising as much as 20 feet high above the surface of the hill and made of hand-cut stones, each weighing hundreds of pounds, the site is believed to have had multiple uses over the millennia. 

“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,” Klein told the Times of Israel. Now, they think the building north of the Zohar Valley is a tower or a fortress from the Hellenistic period, 2,200 years ago. 

Still, there is much to learn about this enigmatic pyramid, researchers added.  

“This is a very promising site – every moment new findings are discovered, and we are filled with anticipation for what else the next three weeks might produce,” they said. 

The pyramid was probably used between 300 and 150 BCE, before being abandoned and collapsing. At some point in the Roman era, probably between 63 BCE and 135 CE, it was turned into a grave, probably thanks to the beauty of the location and the structure.