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Jerusalem During the First and Second Temple Periods: Recent Excavations and Discoveries on and Near the Temple Mount

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Jerusalem During the First and Second Temple Periods: Recent Excavations and Discoveries on and Near the Temple Mount JERUSALEM DURING THE FIRST AND SECOND TEMPLE PERIODS: RECENT EXCAVATIONS AND DISCOVERIES ON AND NEAR THE TEMPLE MOUNT Ann E. Killebrew The Pennsylvania State University When Jerusalem first appears in biblical history, it is a location unaf- filiated with any individual Israelite tribe. In the Bible, Jerusalem is described as a Jebusite settlement, conquered and chosen by David to be the capital of his newly united kingdom (II Samuel 5:4–11). Today it is again the capital of a Jewish state. In the three thousand years that separate the modern city from David’s settlement on the southeast- ern spur of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem is a contested city, considered sacred by the world’s three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christian- ity and Islam. Its spiritual significance encompasses past, present and future. Jerusalem represents the glories of the past and encounters between humankind and God as in the Akedah, where tradition places Abraham at Mount Moriah in connection with the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22:1–3). The city’s fate was determined with the building of the first Temple by King Solomon, when God descended to earth to reside among humankind (I Kings 9:10). Jerusalem also represents the future, the ultimate union between humanity and God, when the in- gathering of the exiles will bring the people to the divine fold, to be united forever. And lastly, Jerusalem expresses the present desire for spiritual uplifting—for a personal, religious and mystical experience. In more recent history, Jerusalem has become the center of fierce political conflict which has cast a shadow over its idealized image as a heavenly city.1 No less disillusioning are the at times ambiguous physical remains from archaeological excavations and modern critical 1 See e.g. Meron Benvenisti, City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (Los Ange- les: University of California Press, 1996); Bernard Wasserstein, Divided Jerusalem: The Struggle for the Holy City, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002); Rivka Gonen, Contested Holiness: Jewish, Muslim and Christian Perspectives on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem ( Jersey City, NJ: Ktav Publishing House, 2003); Tamar Mayer and Sulei- mann Ali Mourad, eds., Jerusalem: Idea and Reality (New York: Routledge, 2008). 366 ann e. killebrew analysis of the biblical texts that have tarnished Jerusalem’s reputation as King Solomon’s glorious capital city.2 In this paper, I reassess the evidence and present the major highlights of recent archaeological dis- coveries near the Temple Mount during the First and Second Temple periods (see Fig. 1 for suggested settlement sizes of ancient Jerusalem during the Bronze through Byzantine periods). Canaanite, Jebusite, and First Temple Period Jerusalem The accumulative evidence derives from major archaeological expedi- tions3 during the last half century in the vicinity of the Temple Mount, which include excavations in the City of David directed by Kathleen Kenyon,4 Yigal Shiloh,5 and more recently by Eli Shukron, Ronny Reich6 and Eilat Mazar.7 To the south of the Temple Mount, Benja- min Mazar8 and Eilat Mazar9 excavated extensive areas, in some cases reaching bedrock. Most recently, excavations adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza directed by Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah and Alexander Onn 2 For a recent summary of the various interpretations of First Temple period Jeru- salem, see e.g. chapters in Andrew G. Vaughn and Ann E. Killebrew (eds.) Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period, Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series Number 18 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003). 3 For a recent summary of excavations in the City of David, see e.g. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, “The History of the Archaeological Excavations in the City of David 1867–2007,” City of David, Studies of Ancient Jerusalem, 3 (2008): 13–41 (in Hebrew). 4 See Kathleen M. Kenyon, Jerusalem, Excavating 3000 Years of History (London: McGraw-Hill, 1967); eadem, Digging Up Jerusalem (London: Benn, 1974); A. Doug- las Tushingham, Excavations in Jerusalem 1961–1967, Vol. 1 (Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1985); Margreet L. Steiner, Excavations by Kathleen M. Kenyon in Jerusalem 1961–1967, Vol. III (London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001). 5 Yigal Shiloh, Excavations in the City of David, I. 1978–1982. Interim Report of the First Five Seasons. Qedem 19 (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1984). 6 Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, “Urban Development of Jerusalem in the Late Eighth Century B.C.E.,” in Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period, ed. Andrew G. Vaughn and Ann E. Killebrew (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), pp. 209–218. 7 Eilat Mazar, Preliminary Report on the City of David Excavations 2005, at the Visitors Center Area ( Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2007); eadem, The Palace of King David, Excava- tions at the Summit of the City of David: Preliminary Report of Seasons 2005–2007 ( Jerusalem: Shalem Academic Research and Publication, 2009). 8 Benjamin Mazar, The Mountain of the Lord, Excavating in Jerusalem (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1975). 9 Eilat Mazar and Benjamin Mazar, Excavations in the South of the Temple Mount, The Ophel of Biblical Jerusalem, Qedem 29 ( Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989)..
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