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glacis now rises up above the base
of lhe excavaled level to a heighl
of approximately fifty feet! Two
new facts have become apparent.
On the lower portian of this glacis
are built a group of houses-rich
in finds-belonging to the First
Temple Period! The glacis itself
was built upon remains of the
Canaanite city of the 14th to 13th
centuries B.C. The 1980 season
uncovered support walls and mas–
sive fills of stone of lhis pre–
Davidic period. Therefore the
monumental stepped glacis is
properly to be attributed to the
period of the United Monarchy al
the latest. Kathleen Kenyon was
mistaken in dating of t he glacis in
lhe light of these new findings.
This discovery is the most
impressive construclion project in
ancient J erusalem lhus far discov–
ered from the time of David and
Solomon. Until this day, no mon–
umental construction such as this
has been uncovered in any other
biblical city! lt is important to
emphasize that this building was
found inside the city, at the top of
the eastern slope, in an area very
clase to the Temple Mount area.
The main fortification line of the
city is to be found approximately
100 feet lower down on the east–
ern slope.
North of this impressive build–
ing an additional important build–
ing is being carefully uncovered.
It is built of ashlar masonry. The
building points to the importance
of this area in the City of
David.
Another important subject in–
vestigated this season was "War–
ren 's Shaft."
It
is part of an
underground water system. This
systern is composed of a wide tun–
nel, hewn in the bedrock, con–
necting the inner city with a ver–
tical shaft descending more than
forty feet to the Gihon spring and
Hezekiah's tunnel. This water sys–
tem is named after Charles Wa.r–
ren who discovered it about 115
years ago.
It
had been blocked
completely since the work of the
scholar Parker there in 1909.
This past season a group of
mou ntain climbers headed by
Elia Kantrovitz of Jerusalem
scaled the famous ver tical shaft
March 1981
from below. With lhe help of two
mining engineers from South
Africa the horizontal lunnel was
penetrated. Clearing of the enlire
system has begun. Today it is
again possible lo descend to
Hezekiah's tunnel and the Gihon
spring by way of lhis impressive
water system. In places this tun–
nel is twenty feet high and eight
wide!
Background of the City of David
Project
The City of David Project
involves an area of approximately
forty acres.
It
líes along the east–
ern slope of the long, narrow spur
that projects southward from the
Temple Mount area along the
Kidron Valley (to the east). This
area is known as "The Ophel" or
the "City of David." This area
(smaJI by modero standards) was
long thoughl to contain the
remains of the earliest settle–
ments in Jerusalem because of
the Gihon spring. This spring is
situated in the Kidron Valley
below the eastern slope and pro–
vides the most important require–
ment for the existence of a settled
community- a reliable supply of
water.
During the past century and a
half, severa! individuals explored
the eastern slope of this spur,
seeking signs of early Jerusalem.
Edwa.rd Robinson, an American,
became the first to explore Heze–
kiah's tunnel (built to supply
water to Jerusalem during the
siege of the Assyrian king, Sen–
nacherib- II Kings 20:20 and
11
Chronicles 32:30). Charles
Warren, an Englishman, discov–
ered •the even earlier supply sys–
tem already mentioned.
Until recently, however, most
of what was known about the City
of David was the result of the
work of one of the world's most
distinguished archaeologists, the
late Dame Kathléen Kenyon.
Between 1961 and 1967, Miss
Kenyon conducted an extensive
excavation at the site. At its con–
clusion, Miss Kenyon remarked
that she strongly doubted wheth–
er anything further could be
learned about the history of early
J erusalem. All other evidence,
she thought, was either located
under recently constructed build–
ings or had undoubtedly been
removed as part of ancient
quarryi ng operations.
Largely for this reason, follow–
ing the 1967 Six-Day War, Israelí
archaeologists concent.rated their
effor ts on the area adjacent to the
Temple Mounl (with which the
Ambassador In ternational Cul–
tural Foundation (AICF) was
also associated) and in the Old
City's "Jewish Quarter." In 1978
it became obvious that planned
mun icipal improvements would
significantly affect the character
of the City of David. Land along
the eastern s lope previously
owned by the Rothschilds had
been donated to the state of
Israel, so the decision was made
to see if, despite Miss Kenyon's
pessimistic conclusions, anything
further could be learned about
the early history of Jerusalem.
In the summer of 1978, the
City of David Society was orga–
nized for the purpose of supervis–
ing the excavation, restoration
and preservation of the City of
David. Composed of rep.resenta–
tives of the Institute of Archaeol–
ogy of the Hebrew University of
J erusalem, the Israel Exploration
Society, a group of Soutb African
sponsors and the Ambassador
International Cultural Founda–
tion, the Society appointed Dr.
Yigal Shiloh to be the director of
the excavation. Dr. Shilob recent–
ly presented a slide lecture on the
excavation to the student body of
Ambassador College.
1
had the
pleasu.re of interviewing him for
our
P/ain Truth
readers.
Here are excerpts from that
interview to keep you abreast of
the latest discovcries in the City
of David.
Question:
What special prob–
lems are faced by an archaeolo–
gist digging in J erusalem?
Answer:
Jerusalem itself. Ar–
chaeology in Jerusalem is special
since J erusalem is so important to
people all over the world. Despite
claims that lsraelis are only inter–
ested in tbe Jewish past of J erusa–
lem, we are conducting a pure
scientific work whicb places the
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