Interesting story. Check out the photo slide show...
Clicky>>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/israeli-crusader-town-discovered-acre-_n_882045.html#s296125
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/israeli-crusader-town-discovered-acre-_n_882045.html#s296125)
With the recent release of the NATGEO special on Jacob's Ford, it will be cool if they do one on old Acre and maybe reenact the valiant last stand at Acre, sincethe three primary Orders were present at the fighting there: Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights. Maybe they could show the epic final stand of the Templars in the tower. ;D
For those interested in this find, here's a few reads to bring you up to speed on it.
The basics of the siege and city of Acre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Acre_(1291)
The following is an interesting account of what it might have been like as a foot soldier during the siege:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/siege-of-acre/20739
More details:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1291acre.html
Briefly mentions the epic final stand of the Templars:
http://historyavenue.com/conquest_of_acre_1291.html
Israeli excavations got under way in earnest in the 1990s, and some remnants of the city that de Vitry knew can already be visited. One is the fortress of the Hospitaller knights, with its pillared dining hall and storerooms, an orderly latrine and a dungeon whose stone walls still have holes for attaching shackles.
- WOW- just WOW
They also discovered a tunnel underneath the city that lead from the old Templar stronghold down to the sea. This may very well have been used to evacuate most inhabitants from the city during the events of 1291.
(http://i54.tinypic.com/ruxlx2.jpg)