Archaeologists conducting excavations in northern Israel uncovered a weapons cache possibly dating back to before the establishment of modern Israel.

Dror Barshad of the Israel Antiquities Association said the weapons were wrapped in oiled cloth and stashed inside the inner tube of a tire, Maariv reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said the weapons were believed to have been used by Arabs in riots leading up to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Haaretz said further investigations revealed the rusty weapons, identified as four Egyptian made sub machine guns with Port Said stamped in Arabic on them and 50 rounds of ammunition, were manufactured in Egypt.

Eitan Feldman, a weapons expert, estimated the weapons were taken by Israeli soldiers during the Sinai Campaign in 1956, Haaretz said.

Police sappers collected the weapons and permitted archaeologists to continue excavating at the site where the expansion of a main road is planned, the newspapers said.

A sapper was deployed at the site to monitor the excavations in the event explosives are found.

Israel launched the Sinai Campaign to end terrorist incursions into Israel and remove the Egyptian imposed blockade on the southern city of Eilat.