Archaeologists have uncovered one of the monumental fortifications that protected the kings of Jerusalem

The discovery will be presented at the “Innovations in the Archeology of Jerusalem” conference of the Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University.

Who divided Jerusalem in two?

A massive fortification discovered in the excavations of the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David in the Jerusalem Walls National Park solves a 150-year-old riddle. The fortification was created by massive quarrying of the rock that created a moat – a kind of huge canal that cut between the extension of the City of David and the Temple Mount and the Ophel area. Perpendicular cliffs that could not be climbed were found on both sides of the moat. At first, the excavators did not understand why the rock was carved in this way, but as the excavation progressed, and with the help of a link to past excavations, it became clear that this was the northern fortification line of the lower city.

According to the directors of the excavation, Prof. Yuval Gadot from the Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University and Dr. Yiftach Shalev from the Antiquities Authority,

Creating the moat is a large-scale monumental operation, designed to change and adapt the natural environment so that it transmits strength and power to those who come to the gates of the Acropolis. According to the researchers, this action, which required impressive skills to execute, testifies to the power of the city’s rulers at the time when the moat was created.

Throughout the last 150 years, many attempts have been made by researchers and archaeologists to trace the route of the northern fortification of Jerusalem, but it has only now been clearly revealed for the first time, in the excavations of the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David, managed by the Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, and funded by the City of David Foundation.

According to Prof. Yuval Gadot, the director of the excavation on behalf of Tel Aviv University, “following the dramatic discovery, we returned to the past excavations of the British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated in the City of David in the 1960s, in an area located slightly east of today’s Givati Parking Lot. It became clear to us that Kenyon noticed that the natural rock slopes towards the north, in a place where it should naturally have risen. She thought it was a natural valley, but now it turned out to us that she had uncovered the continuation of the moat, carved to the west. The connection of the two uncovered sections creates a deep and wide moat that extends across at least 70 meters, from west to east”. He adds that “this is a dramatic discovery that opens up a renewed discussion about the terms from the biblical literature that refer to the topography of Jerusalem, such as the Ophel and the Millo”.

Dr. Yiftach Shalev, director of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, points out that “the date the moat was dug is unknown. Such significant construction plants and quarrying in Jerusalem are usually dated to the Middle Bronze Age – about 3,800 years ago (the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE). If the moat was dug during this period, then it was intended to protect the city from the north – the only weak point of the City of David slope. We are confident that it was used at the time of the First Temple and the Kingdom of Judah (ninth century BCE), so it created a clear buffer between the residential city to the south, and the upper city to the north”.

Ancient Jerusalem was built on top of a narrow and steep spur, and from there it expanded and spread over hills and stream channels that divided it into distinct units and made it difficult to move from unit to unit. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the royal construction enterprises in Jerusalem are connected with the need to reshape the topography. For example, in the first book of Kings (11:27), an action of this type that King Solomon performs is mentioned: “Solomon built up the ‘Millo’ and closed up the breach of the city of David, his father.”

Now it becomes clear that throughout the Iron Age (the days of the First Temple) – the period in which the books of the Bible were compiled and written – the city was divided into at least two distinct parts. This was also the case during the Persian and Hellenistic periods.

The results of the excavation will be presented at the “Innovations in the Archeology of Jerusalem and its Surroundings” conference of the Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University. The conference will be held at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel. The research will soon be published in an article in the periodical, “Tel Aviv.”