Jerusalem, Mar 27 (IANS): Remains of a over 2,000-year old rural Jewish settlement with luxurious burial ground were discovered in excavations in southern Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported on Wednesday.

A large winepress was discovered at the site with fragments of jars, a large columbarium and a cave for pigeons nesting, an olive press and a large ritual bath, reported Xinhua news agency. A columbarium is a room or building with niches for storing funeral urns.

The burial ground has a corridor leading to a large rock-hewn courtyard, surrounded by a bench. The burial cave comprised several rooms with long niches in which bodies were placed. The ground was used to bury several generations of families.

According to the IAA estimates, wealthy or important people were buried there during the Hasmonean dynasty of Israel.

The Hasmonean dynasty, according to historians, ruled Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity.

On the soil that covered the cave courtyard, large building stones were found, some of which were decorated in the architectural style of the Jewish Second Temple period. Such rare stones were usually combined with luxurious buildings and burial grounds of ancient Jerusalem.