A typical jar of the Early Bronze Age was discovered buried beneath the floor of a building. Photo: Dr. Ron Be'eri, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

JNS.org – While conducting a routine dig as part of a highway expansion program, an Israeli transportation company uncovered the remains of a 10,000-year-old house and a 6,000-year-old temple.

The newly excavated site, which dates back to the the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, will be opened to the public on Nov. 27 by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Netivei Israel Company, the company working on the highway project.

“Whoever built the house did something that was totally innovative because up until this period [local human groups] migrated from place to place in search of food. Here we have evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings, and that in fact is the beginning of the domestication of animals and plants; instead of searching out wild sheep, ancient man started raising them near the house,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel.