Re-excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology is concerned with the archaeology and history of Jerusalem, and with the story of its people over many centuries. It is a story of ongoing crisis, of adaptations and inheritance under successive rulers, where each generation has owed a cultural debt to its predecessors, from the Bronze Age to the modern world. Illustrated with over 80 photos and drawings, Re-excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology reflects on events as revealed in a major programme of archaeological excavation conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s, which is still in the process of publication. The excavation archive has an ongoing relevance today. Even though our knowledge of the city and its inhabitants has increased over the decades since then, the archive still reveals fresh insights to set against contemporary work. The preservation of such archives has great importance for future historians. Amongst topics addressed are the nature of a dispersed settlement pattern in the second millennium BC; a fresh look at the vexed problems of the biblical accounts of the work of David and Solomon and the development of the city in the tenth and ninth centuries BC; the nature of the defensive walls of the town re-established by Nehemiah in the fifth century BC; some evidence of the Roman occupation following the almost total destruction of the city in AD 70; and an exploration in the Islamic city during the twelfth to fifteenth centuries.

The City of David, more specifically the southeastern hill of first- and second-millennium BCE Jerusalem, has long captivated the imagination of the world. Archaeologists and historians, biblical scholars and clergy, Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and tourists and armchair travelers from every corner of the globe, to say nothing of politicians of all stripes, look to this small stretch of land in awe, amazement, and anticipation. In the City of David, in the ridge leading down from the Temple Mount, hardly a stone has remained unturned. Archaeologists have worked at a dizzying pace digging and analyzing. But while preliminary articles abound, there is a grievous lack of final publications of the excavations—a regrettable limitation on the ability to fully integrate vital and critical results into the archaeological reconstruction of ancient Jerusalem. Excavations of the City of David are conducted under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Authority has now partnered with the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem and its publication arm, the Ancient Jerusalem Publication Series, for the publication of reports that are written and designed for the scholar as well as for the general reader. Excavations in the City of David (APJ 1), is the first volume in this series.

On a cold winter morning in January of 1851, a small group of people approached the monumental façade of an ancient rock-cut burial cave located north of the Old City of Jerusalem. The team, consisting of two Europeans and a number of local workers, was led by Louis-Félicien Caignart de Saulcy—descendant of a noble Flemish family who later was to become a distinguished member of the French parliament. As an amateur archaeologist and a devout Catholic, de Saulcy was attracted to the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular and was obsessed by his desire to uncover some tangible evidence for the city’s glorious past. However, unlike numerous other European pilgrims, researchers and adventurers before him, de Saulcy was determined to expose the evidence by physically excavating ancient sites. His first object of investigation constitutes one of the most attractive and mysterious monumental burial caves within the vicinity of the Old City, from then onward to be referred to as the “Tomb of the Kings” (Kubur al-Muluk). By conducting an archaeological investigation, de Saulcy tried to prove that this complex represented no less than the monumental sepulcher of the biblical Davidic Dynasty. His brief exploration of the burial complex in 1851 led to the discovery of several ancient artifacts, including sizeable marble fragments of one or several sarcophagi. It would take him another 13 years to raise the funds for a more comprehensive investigation of the site. On November 17, 1863, de Saulcy returned to Jerusalem with a larger team to initiate what would later be referred to as the first archaeological excavation to be conducted in the city.—(from the “Preface”) In 2006, some two dozen contemporary archaeologists and historians met at Brown University, in Providence RI, to present papers and illustrations marking the 150th anniversary of modern archaeological exploration of the Holy City. The papers from that conference are published here, presented in 5 major sections: (1) The History of Research, (2) From Early Humans to the Iron Age, (3) The Roman Period, (4) The Byzantine Period, and (5) The Early Islamic and Medieval Periods. The volume is heavily illustrated with materials from historical archives as well as from contemporary excavations. It provides a helpful and informative introduction to the history of the various national and religious organizations that have sponsored excavations in the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular, as well as a summary of the current status of excavations in Jerusalem.

"The archaeological excavations near the Jaffa Gate, the main entryway to the Old City of Jerusalem, are among the most significant excavations of recent decades. They uncovered a large area beneath the Qishle, a historical prison within a 19th-century structure, revealing remarkable findings from the Iron Age to modern times. The remains of an imposing wall were found - probably a city wall of the First Temple period, dating to the 8th century BCE, as well as a large portion of the First Wall - Jerusalem's Hasmonean-era fortification. Other noteworthy discoveries include retaining walls and a sewage system from the time of Herod the Great that were part of Herod's Upper City palace; medieval installations, and a section of the curtain wall from the Crusader/Ayyubid period. The Qishle excavations have opened an extraordinary window onto underground Jerusalem, revealing a striking example of the ancient city's stratigraphy and allowing us a glimpse of the fascinating history of ancient Jerusalem"--back cover.

This volume is a critical study of recent archaeology in the Western Wall Plaza area, Jerusalem. Considered one of the holiest places on Earth for Jews and Muslims, it is also a place of controversy, where the State marks ‘our’ remains for preservation and adoration and ‘theirs’ for silencing. Based on thousands of documents from the Israel Antiquities Authority and other sources, such as protocols of planning committees, readers can explore for the first time this archaeological ‘heart of darkness’ in East Jerusalem. The book follows a series of unique discoveries, reviewing the approval and execution of development plans and excavations, and the use of the areas once excavation has finished. Who decides what and how to excavate, what to preserve – or ‘remove’? Who pays for the archaeology, for what aims? The professional, scientific archaeology of the past happens now: it modifies the present and is modified by it. This book ‘excavates’ the archaeology of East Jerusalem to reveal its social and political contexts, power structures and ethics. Readers interested in the history, archaeology and politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will find this book useful, as well as scholars and students of the history and ethics of Archaeology, Jerusalem, conservation, nationalism, and heritage.

The importance of Jerusalem in biblical times as well as subsequent areas cannot be challenged, rendering a reliable and understandable textbook on its archaeology and history a virtual necessity. 'The Archaeology of the Jerusalem Area' is such a book. The approach of this study,Ó writes the author, is basically chronological, covering the archaeological history of the Jerusalem area from earliest times to our modern day. While the archaeological evidence is stressed, care is taken to fill in the picture with historical details gathered from the Bible and other literary sources.Ó After an historical overview of the city, chapters expand on the Jerusalem area in pre-Davidic times, Davidic Jerusalem, Solomonic Jerusalem, the city during the kingdom of Judah, after the exile, from 100 B.C. to A.D. 100, in the Roman period, in the Byzantine period, in the early Islamic periods, and during the Crusader, Mamluk, and Turkish periods. Plentiful maps, photographs, and sketches illustrate the archaeological data. Footnotes and a select bibliography guide the student to additional information available on various aspects of the subject. Jerusalem has always gained her strength and renown from the moral and religious precepts taught within her walls.,Ó the author writes. This has been true from the times of the Old Testament prophets into the time of Jesus... and on through the period of Islam.Ó So he addresses such questions as these: What was the nature of the struggles waged over her by pagan, Jew, Christian, and Muslim? What archaeological evidence is there of religious practices? What was the lifestyle of the people who inhabited Jerusalem over the centuries?Ó

A spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval “A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.” —Washington Post In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.

The fifth volume in the series of final reports on the work of the Joint Expedition to Jerusalem in the 1960s describes the discoveries made in six sites in the ancient city and places them in the archaeological and historical context of Jerusalem and the surrounding lands. Among the most debated issues are the extent of the occupation of the city during the Iron Age, the location of the southern defence line in Herodian and Roman times, and the date of the destruction of an Umayyad palatial structure. There is fresh information on the civic amenities of the southern half of the Byzantine city, and on the structure of the Ottoman city defences built under Sulaiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century. Fine glazed pottery, both locally made and imported, and the wide range of materials reaching Jerusalem through trade and pilgrimage, reflect elite patronage and the high status of the holy city under Islamic rule.