MORE ON THE POST-REVOLT ANCIENT JEWISH (?) VILLAGE:

Ancient village discovery raises questions
SARA TOTH
Associated Press

JERUSALEM - Discovery of an ancient village just outside Jerusalem has brought into question one of the strongest images of biblical times - the wholesale flight of Jews running for their lives after the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Just beneath the main road leading north from Jerusalem, archaeologists have found the walls of houses in a well-planned community that existed after the temple's destruction. It might lead to rewriting the history books if it was really Jewish. But at least one expert isn't sure it was.

The discovery of stone vessels indicate Jews in the village continued to live by religious purity laws after 70 A.D., said Debbie Sklar-Parnes, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is overseeing the dig.

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But Hebrew University historian Lee Levine questioned whether the village was actually Jewish.

"The evidence is a little mixed," Levine said. The presence of wine amphorae from Italy and the absence of ritual baths cast some doubt on the Jewishness of the village, he said.

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The village ceased to be occupied around 132, when the Bar Kokhba revolt began, which is another argument in favor of its Jewishness. But it could take years more excavation to determine decisively whether it was a Jewish village or not.

UPDATE: By the way, this excavation was in the news a couple of years ago. See here and here. The latter link has a letter to PaleoJudaica from the excavator with some additional details about the site.