The Philadelphia Bulletin: Ancient temple Street Discovered Beneath Jerusalem

by David Bedein

Jerusalem - A section of a stepped street paved in stone slabs, going south in the direction of the Shiloach Pool was discovered in excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Shiloach Pool Excavation at the City of David in the Jerusalem Walls National Park.


Courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority

The excavations are being conducted in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, funded by the Elad Foundation, under the auspices of Prof. Ronny Reich of Haifa University and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The existence of this road has been known about for over one hundred years, since it was first discovered between 1894 and 1897 by Prof. Frederick J. Bliss and Archibald C. Dickey of the British Palestine Exploration Fund, and then covered and filled in at the end of their excavation.

Other sections of this same road, to the north, have been excavated and covered over in the past, including during the excavations of Jones in 1937 and Kathleen Kenyon from 1961 to 1967.

The section of the stepped street was discovered 400 feet south of the Temple Mount. The road represents the central thoroughfare of Jerusalem that ascended from the northwest corner of the Second Temple Shiloach Pool to the north.

"In the Second Temple Period, pilgrims would begin the ascent to the Temple from here," said Prof. Ronny Reich. "This is the southernmost tip of the road, of which a section has already been discovered along the western face of the Temple Mount."

The current excavation has been concentrated in a very narrow strip in the western sections of the road. Essentially, the excavation work removed the earth that had been filled in by previous excavators over the sections they already discovered. The section of road was built in the Second Temple style, which comprises alternating wide and narrow steps. Further work must be done to clarify what the relationship was between the current excavated section and the section of the road and the drainage channels that were discovered nearby two years ago.

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: 3,700-Year-Old Fortification Excavated in Jerusalem

by David Bedein

JERUSALEM - A huge fortification more than 3,700 years old, which is ascribed to the Canaanites (Middle Bronze Age 2), was uncovered in archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is currently conducting in the “Walls Around Jerusalem" National Park in the City of David with funding provided by the 'Ir David' Foundation.


This image made available by Israel's Antiquities Authority Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 shows part of a a 3,700-year-old fortification wall discovered in Jerusalem’sCity of David, part of the earliest fortification construction on such a large scale ever found in Jerusalem. (IAA/Associated Press)

“This is the most massive wall that has ever been uncovered in the City of David and it rises to a height of 26 feet,” said Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, director of the excavation. “We are dealing with a gigantic fortification from the standpoint of the structure’s dimensions, the thickness of its walls and the size of the stones that were incorporated in its construction. The walls appear to be a protected, well-fortified passage that descends to the spring tower from some sort of fortress that stood at the top of the hill. The construction of a protected passage such as this is a plausible solution that explains the innate contradiction of the situation whereby the spring - which is a source of life from the standpoint of the fortress’ inhabitants in time of emergency - is located in the weakest and most vulnerable place in the area. The construction of a protected passage, even though it involves tremendous effort, is a solution for which there are several parallels in antiquity, albeit from periods that are later than the remains described here. A small section of the fortification was discovered in 1909 and it has been ascertained in the present excavations that it was part of an enormous wall. This is the first time that such massive construction that predates the Herodian period has been discovered in Jerusalem.”

During this period Jerusalem and the fields around it were an independent political entity with self-rule, similar to its neighbors Shechem to the north and Jericho to the east. Massive walls resembling the one that was just exposed in Jerusalem are known from Canaanite Hebron (Tel Rumeida), Shechem (Tel Balata) and Gezer.

“Even though it would seem we are dealing with impressive fortifications, the walls were after all primarily used to defend against marauding desert nomads who wanted to rob the city, ” said Professor Reich. “These are the earliest fortifications in the region and they bear witness to the fact that from this point on the settlement had became an urban entity with a ruler who had the capability and resources to build such a structure. A small settlement would have been unsuccessful in organizing such construction.”

The known section of the fortification is 18 feet long; however, it is thought the fortification is much longer because it continues west.

“The new discovery shows that the picture regarding Jerusalem’s eastern defenses and the ancient water system in the Middle Bronze Age 2 is still far from clear,” said Professor Reich. “Despite the fact that so many have excavated on this hill, there is a very good chance that extremely large and well-preserved architectural elements are still hidden in it and waiting to be uncovered.”

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: Palestinian Judge - Jews Have no History in Jerusalem

by David Bedein

Khaled Abu Toameh, Arab Affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, reported that the Palestinian Authority's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, has formally announced that that there was no evidence to back up claims that Jews had ever lived in Jerusalem or that the Temple ever existed.

Tamimi claimed that Israeli archeologists have "admitted" that Jerusalem was never inhabited by Jews. Tamimi's statement came in response to statements made earlier this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said that Jerusalem "is not a settlement," and that "the Jews built it 3,000 years ago."

"Netanyahu's claims are baseless and untrue," said Tamimi, the highest religious authority in the Palestinian Authority. "Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city and it always has been so."

Tamimi claimed that all excavation work conducted by Israel after 1967 has "failed to prove that Jews had a history or presence in Jerusalem or that their ostensible temple had ever existed."

He condemned Netanyahu and "all Jewish rabbis and extremist organizations" as liars because of their assertion that Jerusalem was a Jewish city. Tamimi accused Israel of distorting the facts and forging history "with the aim of erasing the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem." He also accused Israel of launching an "ethnic cleansing" campaign to squeeze Arabs out of the city.

"By desecrating its holy sites, expelling its Arab residents and demolishing their homes and confiscating their lands and building settlements in Jerusalem, Israel is seeking, through the use of weapons, to turn it into a Jewish city," he said. "This is a flagrant violation of all religious, legal, moral and human values."

In another development, Hamas on Wednesday rejected the political platform of the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister, Salaam Fayad. The platform, which was published on Tuesday, pledges that the Fayad government would work toward establishing a de facto Palestinian state within two years even if no agreement was reached with Israel. The platform talks about peaceful resistance against Israeli "occupation." The two Islamic groups said in response that the only way to establish a state was through "armed struggle." They said that Fayad's plan was unrealistic and unclear, adding that it would be impossible to establish a state "under occupation."

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: 'Instead of Archaelogy, You Are Talking Politics'

by David Bedein

JERUSALEM - The Israel Antiquities Authority has dispatched a letter denouncing the World Archaeological Congress for excluding Israel from its congress.

The congress, which is currently meeting in Ramallah, is discussing, among other things, the excavations in Jerusalem. However, no Israeli representatives were asked to participate.

The World Archaeological Congress is presently convening archaeologists from all over the world in a conference entitled “Overcoming Structural Violence.” The congress, which is taking place in Ramallah, the biggest city of the Palestinian Authority, did not invite the Israel Antiquities Authority despite the fact that some of the topics being discussed at the conference deal with regions in Jerusalem where an archaeological excavation is being conducted exclusively by the IAA.

According to Dr. Uzi Dahari, Deputy Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “An international archaeological congress does not act this way.

“The congress came to a region where there is a conflict and chooses to present one side of the story. It is forbidden that such a thing should happen. For example, it is professionally unethical that an international archaeological forum will tour sites without the knowledge of the archaeologists who are excavating them. In addition, the congress uses the names of sites as they are referred to by one side only (e.g. the congress refers to the Temple Mount in English as Haram al Sharif). It would be best if the World Archaeological Congress would focus on archaeology and not on politics.”

The spokespeople of the World Archaeological Congress said that the Israelis were invited to participate in the event. However, the WAC could not produce the invitation that the WAC claimed to have sent to Israeli achaeologists to attend the event.

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: 1,800-Year-Old Roman Building Discovered in Jerusalem

by David Bedein

Jerusalem - A spacious edifice from the 3rd Century was recently exposed in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority that is carrying out a major excavation in the 'City of David', located in the heart of Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

“Although we do not have the complete dimensions of the structure, we can cautiously estimate that the building covered an area of approximately 1,000 square meters,” said Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, the excavation director. “In the center of it was a large open courtyard surrounded by columns. Galleries were spread out between the rows of columns and the rooms that flanked the courtyard. The wings of the building rose to a height of two stories and were covered with tile roofs.”

A large quantity of fresco fragments was discovered in the collapsed ruins from which the excavators deduced that some of the walls of the rooms were treated with plaster and decorated with colorful paintings. The painted designs that adorned the plastered walls consisted mostly of geometric and floral motifs. Its architectural richness, plan and particularly the artifacts that were discovered among its ruins bear witness to the unequivocal Roman character of the building. The most outstanding of these finds are a marble figurine in the image of a boxer and a gold earring inlaid with precious stones.

The building was likely shaken by a tremor in the 4th Century, the results of which are clearly apparently in the excavation area: the walls of the rooms caved-in and their stone collapse, which was piled high, covered the walls of the bottom floor, some of which still stand to a considerable height. Architectural elements such as columns and capitals, as well as mosaics and the large amount of fresco fragments that were used in the rooms of the second story were discovered inside the collapsed ruins. The coins that were discovered among the collapse and on the floors indicated the building’s ruins should be dated to circa 360 AD. The structure appears to be archaeological evidence of the an earthquake that struck the Middle East in 363 AD.

“We know of no other buildings from the Roman period that were discovered in Israel which have a similar plan to that of the building from the City of David,” said Dr. Ben-Ami. “The closest contemporary parallels to this structure are located in sites of the second to fourth century that were excavated in Syria. Edifices such as these are 'urban mansions' from the Roman period that were discovered in Antioch, Apamea and Palmyra. If this parallel is correct, then in spite of its size and opulence, it seems that this building was used originally as a private residence.”

The exposure of the Roman building in the City of David is a significant contribution to understanding the extent of the construction in the Roman city in the 3rd to 4th Centuries AD. It constitutes extremely important archaeological evidence regarding the growth of the settlement at the end of the Roman period into the southern precincts of the city, and it shows that the prevailing supposition among scholars that the City of David remained outside the area of Roman settlement is no longer valid.

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: Ancient Handle Uncovered Near Jerusalem

by David Bedein

An unusual artifact was discovered during an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority prior to the construction of a girls’ school by the Jerusalem municipality.



The find dates to different phases of the Middle Canaanite period (2200-1900 B.C.) and the last years of the First Temple period (8th-7th centuries B.C.), and includes a handle engraved with the name “Menachem,” written in ancient Hebrew script. It was recently exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting near the Mount of Olives in preparation for the school.

The Israel Antiquities Authority’s excavation director, Dr. Ron Beeri, said: “This important find joins similar names that were found in archaeological excavations in the Ancient East and in Israel in particular. The names Menachem and Yinachem are expressions of condolence - possibly related to the death of family members.”

This is the first time that a handle with this name has been found in Jerusalem.

Dr. Beeri said such names already appeared earlier in the Canaanite period: The name Yinachem was found written on an Egyptian pottery sherd that dates to the 18th dynasty, and the name Yinachemu is mentioned in the El-Amarna letters (from the 14th century B.C.) as the name of an Egyptian governor on the Lebanese coast.

This is the first time that a handle with this name has been found in Jerusalem. The name Menachem is known from the corpus of Hebrew or Phoenician names and seals that bear this name were found in Israel, Assyria, Cyprus and Egypt.

The name Menachem Ben Gadi is mentioned in the Bible. He reigned as king of Israel for 10 years in Samaria and was one of the last kings of the Kingdom of Israel. According to Second Kings, Menachem Ben Gadi ascended the throne in the 39th year of Uzziah, king of Judah.

Menachem, king of Israel, is also mentioned in the texts of the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser III, as “Menachem of Samaria” and as one of the kings from whom he received tribute.

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The Philadelphia Bulletin: Rare 2,000-Year-Old Papyrus Seized in Operation

by David Bedein

The Pope’s arrival in Jerusalem causes both Christians and Jews to consider life in the city 2,000 years ago.

By sheer coincidence, one week before the Papal visit, a document thought to be an ancient text written on papyrus 2,000 years ago was seized on Tuesday from an Arab family connected to organized crime in Jerusalem.

The document is written in ancient Hebrew script, which is characteristic of the Second Temple period and the first and second centuries A.D. This style of the writing is primarily known from the Dead Sea Scrolls and various inscriptions that occur on ossuaries and coffins.

The Undercover Unit of the Border Police in Jerusalem led the operation in cooperation with the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery and the Archaeological Staff Officer in the Civil Administration.

The document, approximately six inches by six inches in dimension, itself is written on an incomplete piece of papyrus and was likely rolled up. Pieces of the text crumbled mainly along its bottom part. The holes along the left part of the document probably attest to the damage it incurred over time.

Fifteen lines of Hebrew text, written from right to left and one below the other, can be discerned in the document. In the upper line of the text, one can clearly read the sentence: “Year four to the destruction of Israel.”

This is likely to be the year A.D. 74 - the year when the Second Temple was destroyed during the Great Revolt. Another possibility is the year A.D. 139 - a time when the rural settlement in Judea was devastated at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The name of a woman, “Miriam Bat Ya’aqov,” is also legible in the document followed by a name that is likely to be that of the settlement where she resided: Misalev. This is probably the settlement Salabim.

The name Miriam Bat Ya’aqov is a common name in the Second Temple period. The names of other people and families, the names of a number of ancient settlements from the Second Temple period and legal wording that deals with a widow’s property and her relinquishment of it are also mentioned in the document.

Amir Ganor, director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery in the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Theoretically, based on the epigraphic style, the material the document is written on, the state of preservation and the text, which includes a historic date that can be deciphered, we are dealing with a document that appears to be ancient as defined by the Antiquities Law. Since this object was not discovered in a proper archaeological excavation, it still must undergo laboratory analyses in order to negate the possibility it is a modern forgery.”

He also said the document has importance from a historical and national standpoint.

Until now, few historic scrolls or documents from this period have been discovered in proper archaeological excavations.

A historic document that can be definitively dated to a historical event such as the “destruction of Israel” based on a specific reference has never been discovered. Much can be learned from this document about the names of people, their surnames and the locations of settlements in Israel during this period. From an initial reading, it seems that this document deals with the property of Miriam Bat Ya’aqov, who was apparently a widow.

The deciphering of the entire document by expert epigraphers and historians may shed light on how the people of the period managed their affairs and supplement our knowledge about their way of life. This presents a rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from more than 2,000 years ago, during the days following the destruction which sent the people of Israel into exile for a very long time - until the creation of the State of Israel.

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