Underneath an ancient road in the area of Jerusalem known as the City of David, archaeologists have discovered an enormous collection of fossilized food waste that dates to the 10th century CE—shortly after the Muslim conquest of the city. Amanda Borschel-Dan reports:

According to well-preserved seeds, bones, and other refuse, ancient city dwellers feasted on beef, fish, and fowl, with sides of veggies and lentils. And for dessert? How about cake, or a fruit salad of figs, grapes, and black mulberries?

The fossilized refuse provides physical evidence of the urban diet of the early Islamic period in Israel. Also on the menu, said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists, were eggs, fish, different possibly medicinal grasses—and the first proof of locally grown eggplant. . . .

The preserved pits and seeds give insight into the economy, trade and agriculture during the Abbasid caliphate, which ruled the region [at the time]. Among the vessels discovered in the garbage dump was an ancient lamp bearing the inscription barakha or blessing, in Arabic.

Whether the refuse was produced by Jews, Christians, Arabs, or some combination remains to be seen.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.