Young residents of Ashkelon and nearby areas were employed by the Israel Antiquities Authority in an archaeological excavation in the city, and recently uncovered buildings that were once used by local inhabitants who were engaged in fishing along the Mediterranean coast.

The excavation was carried out for the Ashkelon municipality at the initiative of the Ashkelon Economic Company, in an area in the northern part of city where a new neighbourhood is slated to be constructed.

As part of a project being led by the Israel Antiquities Authority aimed at educating young people about their past, dozens of boys and girls were engaged in challenging and fascinating work in revealing the coastal city’s past.

According to the excavation directors, Federico Kobrin and Haim Mamliya, “Two of the buildings that we uncovered are very curious, and it seems they were used as a fisherman’s house and a lookout tower, possibly a lighthouse, dating to the Ottoman period. The tower was situated on a lofty hilltop, and it looks out over the beach and Mediterranean Sea. From the tower one could signal and direct ships that were sailing between the ancient ports in Ashkelon and Ashdod-Yam.”