uncovering ancient Jerusalem
Ophel 2018 HWAC Excavators
Rachael exploring the many shafts in the cave
Rachel
Justice and rachael
Happy to be working
Taking out a stone
13.6 Reese goes down a shaft
13.5 Inside a cave
Dec Slide 12
Dec Slide 11
Slide 10.10

Who’s Reading KDC?

It’s been four months since our first post and the news of our excavation experience continues to spread through the efforts of Popular Archaeology as well as other online archaeological communities.

On November 30, popular-archaeology.com published an article summarizing our post “Exposing the First Temple Period.” The article highlighted Dr. Mazar’s excitement over reaching first temple period floors that have yielded an abundance of 10th century BCE pottery, as well as exposing walls that reveal the use of a very large structure. The article said, “Like the other structures within the vicinity, a building of possible monumental proportions may be emerging. … Mazar and others suggest [these] may be the remains of structures attributed to builders during the period of King Solomon in the 10th century BCE.”

The periodical also explained part of the success of the excavation so far: “The new finds are consistent with the spectacular finds already uncovered in previous excavation seasons in this, the “Ophel” area of old Jerusalem, just below and south of the current Temple Mount ….”

In addition, HolyLandPhotos’ Blog also promoted the same video post along with another video post, “Restoring Byzantine Pottery.” They spotlighted Dr. Mazar’s quote about the accumulation of pottery found from the first temple period being perhaps the largest assemblage in Jerusalem so far. Another site, bibleplaces.com, mentioned our post “The 10th Century B.C.E. Scarab” in their “Weekend Roundup.”

With a few weeks of digging left, we’ll look forward to sharing more finds with the archaeological community and our interested audience.

The 10th Century B.C.E. Scarab

Dig volunteers demonstrate the process of dry sifting and talk about what it’s like to work on the dig. At the end of October, workers in Area A uncovered a scarab beetle from the 10th Century, B.C.E. The scarab was used to seal letters and is of Egyptian design. Dr. Eilat Mazar theorizes, “We know King Solomon married an Egyptian princess. Was it hers?”