Israeli police discovered an ancient burial cave beneath a building in Silwan, East Jerusalem, while searching for people linked to a violent family dispute. The find matters because it may provide further evidence of Jerusalem’s long and layered history, although officials have only made an initial assessment and further examination is planned.

The police operation followed clashes between feuding families involving gunfire and Molotov cocktails. Israel Antiquities Authority representatives said the graves appear to date from the Second Temple period, roughly 516 BC to AD 70; rock-cut caves were commonly used as family tombs in Jerusalem at that time. Police released images showing the cave’s debris-strewn interior and said security forces were protecting the site.