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Massive Wall in Jerusalem Dated to Solomon’s Time

Eilat Mazar announced today the discovery of a large stone wall that she attributes to King Solomon.

The article with the most detail is at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (with a copy here). Arutz-7 has a similar report, and others have brief summaries. Trying to sort out all the pieces is a little difficult from these sources, but here’s a summary:

A well-built wall was uncovered that is 220 feet (70 m) long and 20 feet (6 m) high. The width is not given. The wall is located on the eastern side of the Ophel atop the western slope of the Kidron Valley (see photo below). She dates it “with a great degree of assurance” to the 10th century BC on the basis of (1) comparison with walls and gates in other cities and (2) pottery.
A large four-chambered gatehouse was found, similar in style to those at Megiddo, Beersheba, and Ashdod. This gatehouse is 20 feet (6 m) high.
A tower adjacent to the gate is buried underneath the road but is believed to be 75 by 60 feet (24 by 18 m) in size.

The report mentions some inscriptions, but it is not clear what was found in Mazar’s dig and what comes from the Temple Mount debris sifting operation. These should not be reported in the same article, and I sense that some of these inscriptions have been announced previously. [See update below.]

In fact, I think that a good portion of these “discoveries” were made already in 1986-87. Mazar excavated in the southern portion of her grandfather’s “southern Temple Mount excavations” and claimed that she found an Iron Age gate. The article mentions in this connection large storage jars, and I am sure that these were published decades ago. Thus, I surmise that the present excavation is an extension of the old one, but that they are reporting old and new together, without distinguishing between them. It’s fine to report previous discoveries in order to give context, but that does not appear to be how the excavation results are being communicated to the journalists.
Mazar’s claim that the building she excavated in the 1980s was an Iron Age gate never met with widespread (or even non-widespread) agreement among archaeologists. They felt that the evidence did not support the identification as a gate. I’ll write more on this in a follow-up post.

Sources tell me that Mazar has found some very interesting material than has not yet been announced.

Excavation area (circled) south of the Temple Mount

UPDATE: BibleX points to this Hebrew article which has better photos of the excavation and discoveries.

UPDATE #2: I’ve learned that the reason why the Temple Mount Sifting Project was mentioned is that Mazar contracted with them to wet-sift some of her material. Also, there are some more photos from the excavation at the Hebrew U’s Facebook page.

Tagged Analysis, Excavations, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Leen Ritmeyer has posted a reconstruction drawing of Jerusalem during the Byzantine period, including an arrow pointing to the newly discovered Decumanus. (I think that I am the only one calling this street the Decumanus.)

Foundation Stone has a slideshow with 16 photos of the Decumanus excavation and press conference.

A 10th century Arabic inscription was discovered in excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.

The IAA press release is here, but you can apparently only access the high-res photos by a direct link (zip).

Yahoo has a slideshow with about 5 photos of the Byzantine winepress.

Israel has added the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem to their list of national heritage sites.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup

One Million Kippot Donated to Western Wall

From the Jerusalem Post:

Visitors no longer have to hold cardboard kippot on their heads when visiting the Kotel: The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has received a donation of 1 million nylon yarmulkes.
According to a statement Wednesday from the office of the rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, the distinct and sometimes awkward cardboard head coverings that have been offered to male visitors to the site for 40 years have been replaced.
The white cloth yarmulkes, which were apparently made in China to cut costs, were given to the foundation on Sunday and are now available for use at the entrance to the Kotel area.
Though this is not the first time new yarmulkes have been donated to the Kotel, said the rabbi’s assistant on Wednesday, this is the first time there has been a large enough number to accommodate the more than eight million people who visit the site each year.
[. . .]
The new yarmulkes, like the cardboard ones, are considered “disposable” – people are allowed to take them home. But the old ones may become a collector’s item: Some are being sold on ebay for $6.

The full story is here. You can buy a cardboard kippah on ebay here. If you’re wondering why it’s sometimes called a kippah and why sometimes yarmulke or even what one is and why they’re so important, this Wikipedia article has some good information.

Men praying at Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Tourism

High Level Aqueduct Discovered in Jerusalem

I noted recently that archaeologists had discovered an ancient aqueduct in the Jaffa Gate excavations.

Today the Israel Antiquities Authority reports that they have excavated a well-preserved portion of the High-Level Aqueduct (temporary link) that carried water to Hezekiah’s Pool (aka Towers Pool) and Herod’s Palace. Though the excavated portion dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, it apparently follows the route of an aqueduct from Herod’s time.

According to Dr. Ofer Sion, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The side of the aqueduct was discovered during the course of the excavation. When we removed the stones in its side and peeked into it we saw a splendidly built aqueduct covered with stone slabs where one can walk crouched down for a distance of approximately 40 meters [130 feet]. It is very exciting to think that no one has set foot there for many hundreds of years.”

This is a fantastic discovery, but the last sentence strikes me as a bit odd. (I confess I’ve never walked in the water pipes in my town.)

According to Sion, “The noted Land of Israel scholar, Dr. Conrad Schick, described a specific section of the aqueduct in a survey he conducted at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1898 a building was erected in this area which afterward became what we know of today as the Imperial Hotel. Schick’s documentation provided us with the clue that led to exposing this section of the aqueduct.”

If you want to see Schick’s drawings for yourself, Tom Powers posted some on his blog a couple of weeks ago.

The aqueduct is c. 60 centimeters [2 feet] wide and 1.5 meters [5 feet] high. Shafts were exposed at fifteen meter [50 foot] intervals or so that allowed the ancients to check the state of the aqueduct from what was the surface level in those days.
Up until the end of the Second Temple period, in the first century BCE, Jerusalem’s water supply was derived from the Gihon Spring; however, as the number of residents steadily increased, the city’s water resources proved insufficient. The shortage of water was the principal factor that led to the construction of Jerusalem’s magnificent waterworks during Herod’s reign.

The press release includes two photos (direct link here), with one that shows the archaeologists’ access and the other of the aqueduct itself. Since the second photo does not have give a sense of scale, you’ll have to remember that it is 5 feet high.

Gravity and very sophisticated engineering were employed to carry water to the city from springs located in the Hebron Hills, which were sufficiently high enough to convey the water by way of aqueducts to Jerusalem. The water was brought dozens of kilometers on its way to Jerusalem until it reached Solomon’s Pools and was distributed from there via two main aqueducts: the Low-Level Aqueduct and the High-Level Aqueduct. The High-Level Aqueduct conveyed water to the high part of the city where King Herod’s palace and Hezekiah’s Pool were situated, the latter being the main source of water for all those arriving in the city; and the Low-Level Aqueduct carried water to the Temple Mount and the Temple.

An important point here is that the aqueduct portion that they found dates to the Late Roman period, after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 135. But this is believed to be the replacement of an aqueduct from Herod’s time. Herod built a large palace on the Western Hill and he needed water. He built aqueduct systems for his palaces at Masada and Herodium as well.
Arutz-7 has the story here. I commented on a discovery of a portion of the Low Level Aqueduct last summer. If you’re interested in learning more about the aqueduct system (and it is quite a marvel),

I’d encourage you to get Tom Powers’ illustrated article, available at his blog for free.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem

King Tut’s Death, Parents Revealed

Tut’s tomb was more glorious than his life, according to a genetic analysis published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He apparently hobbled all of his life and then died from a broken leg, or complications thereof. His mom was his aunt and his dad was his uncle, and he died after a nine-year rule at the age of 19. The AP has a summary of the JAMA article.

Egypt’s famed King Tutankhamun had a cleft palate and a club foot, which probably forced him to walk with canes, and died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria, according to the most extensive study ever of his more than 3,300-year-old mummy.
The findings are based on two years of DNA testing and CT (computed tomography) scans on 16 mummies, including those of Tutankhamun and his family, said the team that carried out the study. An article on the findings is to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study establishes the clearest family tree for Tut, indicating for the first time that he was the child of a brother-sister union.
The study says Tut’s father was probably Akhenaten, a pharaoh who tried to revolutionize ancient Egyptian religion and force his people to worship one god. The mummy shown by DNA to be that of Tut’s mother turned out to be a sister of Akhenaten’s, although she has not been identified.

You can read the full AP article (with nice slideshow) here or here or read a brief Q&A with Zahi Hawass here. Or you can see how this study proves that Tut’s family are not aliens. CNN has a 1:20 video report with lots of photos of the king’s treasures.

Sandals found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb

Tagged Egypt

Two New Trails and 150 Restored Sites

Israel is planning to build two new trails in conjunction with the restoration of 150 historic sites. A number of sites on the list have been mentioned as in need of restoration here before, including Lachish, Hurvat Madras [Khirbet Midras], and the Sanhedrin Garden. We’re a big fan of a number of other sites on the list as well, though we see less need for restoration on some than for others.

Sometimes government involvement makes things worse not better, a case in point being the new Arbel National Park. Trails, however, are always good.

Haaretz reports:

The government is planning on spending NIS 500 million ($135 million) over five years to restore and preserve heritage sites across the country.
[. . .]
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devoted a large part of his address at the Herzliya Conference to outlining the plan.
“The guarantee of our existence is dependent not merely on weapons systems or military strength or economic strength or our innovativeness, our exports, and all these forces which are indeed so vital to us,” he said. “It is dependent first and foremost on the intellectual capacity and the national feelings that we inculcate – from parents to children, and as a state, in our educational system.”
Netanyahu said that he plans to present a blueprint to the government on February 25 that will include, among other things, the inauguration of two trails, in addition to the existing Israel National Trail (“Shvil Yisrael”).
One is an historical trail connecting dozens of archaeological sites, and the second is an “Israeli Experience” trail linking up over 100 places important to the nation’s more recent history and will include buildings that are to be preserved, settlement sites, small museums and memorials.
[. . .]
At Tel Lachish, which Netanyahu referred to in his speech, the plan is to restore the gate into the city and the city walls, to prepare trails, to build an entrance hall and to add signposts, among other things.
Other sites marked for restoration are Neot Kedumim, Susya, Qumran, Jason’s Tomb in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin Garden, the Eshkolot Cave, Umm al-Amad, the Beit Shean antiquities, Tel Megiddo, Tiberias, Tel Arad, Tel Dan, Hurvat Madras, the park around the Old City of Jerusalem and the City of David.
There are another 109 heritage sites and projects earmarked for restoration and preservation. They are to be found throughout the country and include such sites as the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, the Aronson farm and the signaling station at Atlit, the Emek train between Haifa and Tzemah and the Tzemah train station, the Old Courtyard Museum at Ein Shemer, the original homes of the settlers at Migdal in Ashkelon, the street of the Biluim and the winery in Gedera, the courtyard at Kinneret, the Montefoire [sic] quarter of Tel Aviv, the agricultural school at Mikveh Yisrael, the old Jerusalem train station and others.

You can read the article here.

HT: Paleojudaica

Lachish gate (foreground) and palace (top), in a state of neglect. These buildings date to the late Iron Age, a time when Lachish was the second most important city in Judah (after Jerusalem).

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Tourism