JERUSALEM, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old administrative storage center in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Wednesday.

The team also found in the site over 120 seal impressions stamped on jar handles.

According to the IAA, this is one of the largest and most important collections of seal impressions uncovered in Israel.

The center and the handles provide evidence about tax collection in the period of the Judean monarchs in ancient Israel.

Most of the jars were stamped with ancient Hebrew script, meaning "to the king," along with the name of an ancient city in the Kingdom of Judah.

Other seals are associated to private individuals which bear the name of a senior official of the kingdom or wealthy individual.

The team also revealed an unusually large structure at the site, built of concentric ashlars walls.

According to the archaeologists, signs at the site show that governmental activity managed and distributed food supplies not only for shortage but administered agricultural surplus amassing commodities and wealth.

Evidence shows that at this site, taxes were collected in an orderly manner for agricultural produce, such as wine and olive oil.

The site dominated large agricultural plots and orchards of olive trees and grapevines, which included agricultural industrial facilities, such as wine presses for winemaking.

Another finding at the site is a collection of clay statuettes, designed in the forms of women, horse riders and animals, probably used in pagan worship and idolatry. Enditem

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