When you build a house, you dont really think about where the materials are coming from. Yet Israeli archaelogists have discovered that King Herod had a large network of quarries in the Jerusalem area 2,000 years ago when he was building the Jewish Temple in the city.

A 1,000 sq ft quarry has been discovered in this network, where rocks which measure three meters long, two meters across, and two meters high would have been extracted – this makes them big enough for the Western Wall to be built from them, and therefore the rest of the Temple.

“The dimensions of the stones that were produced in the quarry that was revealed are suitable for the Temple walls,” said Ofer Sion, the dig’s director.

“Finding a large quarry related to the largest building project ever undertaken in Jerusalem … that’s more than just another discovery,” said Aren Maeir, an archaelogist at Bar-Ilan University. “It’s an additional block that slowly reveals the picture of construction in ancient Jerusalem.”

But why did the archaelogists decide to excavate now? In Israel, and in Jerusalem especially, before new building projects are undertaken, archaelogical digs are often required to ensure the area is clear of ruins of importance. On this site, a new apartment block was being built. How much has this discovery added to the property values at that address?