{"id":33245,"date":"2023-07-10T12:27:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/?p=33245"},"modified":"2026-03-22T13:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:17:07","slug":"excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"Excavations have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/12″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”8\/12″][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]“<\/span>The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.<\/span>” (2 Kings 25:10)<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/5zIvaST92uQ”][vc_column_text]According to the researchers, this find connects additional sections of the wall, which were uncovered decades ago, and proves, that the eastern slope of the City of David was protected by a single impressive fortification line. Near the wall, a number of finds were uncovered such as a Babylonian stamp seal, a bulla (stamp seal impression) bearing a personal name in ancient Hebrew script as well as  vessels that were in use on the eve of the destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park have uncovered the remains of the city wall, which was built during the Iron Age – the days of the First Temple in the Kingdom of Judah, to protect Jerusalem from the east. The excavations are conducted at the City of David National Park on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in collaboration with the City of David Foundation, as part of the development of the National Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the directors of the excavation, Dr. Filip Vukosavović of the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center and Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority: “The city wall protected Jerusalem from a number of attacks during the reign of the kings of Judah, until the arrival of the Babylonians who managed to break through itand conquer the city. The remains of the ruins can be seen in the archaeological excavations. However, not everything was destroyed, and parts of the walls, which stood and protected the city for decades and more, remain standing to this day. “<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”7866″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The new section that was exposed connects two sections that were previously excavated on the eastern slope. In the 1960s, British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon uncovered a section of the wall in the northern part of the slope and dated it to the days of the Kingdom of Judah. About a decade later, archaeologist Yigal Shiloh uncovered a long section of the wall, in excavations in the southern part of the slope. Over the years, claims have been made that despite the impressive nature of the remains, these remnant stone structures should not be seen as wall remains. However, with the uncovering of this new section that connects with these past discoveries, it seems that the debate has been settled, and that this was unequivocally the eastern wall of ancient Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reconstruction of the sections that were dismantled during previous excavations in the early 20th century, makes it possible to trace almost another 30 meters of the surviving wall to a height of 2.5 meters and a width of up to 5 meters. In the book of 2 Kings, 25:10, there is a description of the conquest of the city by the Babylonians: “The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.” However it looks like the Babylonians did not destroy the eastern wall, possibly due to the<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”7868″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]sharp steepness of the eastern slope of the City of David, which slopes towards the Kidron Valley at over 30-degree angle. The findings of the destruction can be seen in the building that stood next to the wall and were exposed during the previous excavations: inside the building, rows of storage jars were discovered, which were smashed when the building burned and collapsed. The jars bear “rosette” stamped handles, in the shape of a rose, associated with the final years of the Kingdom of Judah. Near the wall, a Babylonian stamp seal made of stone was unveiled, depicting a figure standing in front of symbols of the two Babylonian gods Marduk and Nabu. Not far from there a bulla  (a stamp seal impression made in clay) was found bearing a Judaean personal name “Tsafan”.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/12″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B’Av, in 586 BCE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":7866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[562],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology-3"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMissing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of David\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cityofdavid.he\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-10T09:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-22T11:17:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/\",\"name\":\"Missing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-10T09:27:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-22T11:17:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e82a40ceb17d22ca20dc27cf660652f\"},\"description\":\"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"The excavation directors are sitting on the remains of the wall. Photo: Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Homepage\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Excavations have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/\",\"name\":\"\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e82a40ceb17d22ca20dc27cf660652f\",\"name\":\"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/author\/galiawm1gmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Missing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David","description":"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Missing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David","og_description":"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.","og_url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/","og_site_name":"City of David","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cityofdavid.he\/","article_published_time":"2023-07-10T09:27:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-22T11:17:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":670,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/","url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/","name":"Missing Section of Jerusalem City Wall | City of David","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","datePublished":"2023-07-10T09:27:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-22T11:17:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e82a40ceb17d22ca20dc27cf660652f"},"description":"Excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority at the City of David National Park have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem that the Babylonians encountered on the eve of its destruction on Tisha B'Av, in 586 BCE.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd-\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05d1-\u05d1\u05e8\u05de\u05df-\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","width":670,"height":400,"caption":"The excavation directors are sitting on the remains of the wall. Photo: Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/excavations-have-exposed-the-missing-section-of-the-city-wall-of-jerusalem-eng\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Homepage","item":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Excavations have exposed the missing section of the city wall of Jerusalem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/","name":"\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e82a40ceb17d22ca20dc27cf660652f","name":"\u05d2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d8\u05d5\u05dd","url":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/author\/galiawm1gmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148636,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33245\/revisions\/148636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityofdavid.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}