The first major archeological digs in Jerusalem since the 1980s have uncovered some of the most significant - and the most highly controversial - finds ever discovered in the area known by most, and revered by many, as Ir David - "The City of David."
For decades, archeologists had assumed that there was little new to uncover at the site, already one of the most visited archeological sites in Israel. Yet in the past year, two archeological teams, each with a different vision and each supported by private institutions, have made discoveries that have surpassed even their own expectations.
Different experts attach different significance and meaning to these discoveries. As Yair Zakovitch, professor of biblical studies at the Hebrew University, observes, "Everyone uses the Bible for their own agenda. Jerusalem is a sensitive place, and everyone uses the digs to prove what it is they want to prove.
"Which is why objectivity is so critical," he says, "although it is perhaps impossible under the circumstances."
Yet even the critics of these excavations, who downplay their significance, agree that the recent discoveries have the potential to change the prevailing views, not only of Jerusalem's ancient past, but of its future as well.
Archeological excavations at David's City began in 1973. Captain Charles Warren, sent by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search out and explore holy sites, inadvertently discovered what is now known as Warren's Shaft. This and other discoveries led him to conclude that the ancient City of David must have been located outside the walls of what is today called "the Old City."
Subsequent excavations in the area were carried out by Robert Macalister, who excavated the site in the 1920s, and Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated in the 1960s. Yigal Shiloh conducted the last major dig in Jerusalem in the 1980s.
The site then remained largely untouched until 1995, when the Ir David Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting development, preservation and Jewish settlement in the City of David area, began renovations to build a visitors' center in two rooms above the Gihon Spring.
In the course of the construction, workers pushed out a wall and discovered hewn stones dating to the Middle Bronze Period (1850 BCE).
According to Israeli law, when such discoveries are made, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) must perform "salvage digs." Archeologist Ronny Reich, now a professor of classical archeology at the University of Haifa, carried out the work for the IAA, later joined by archeologist Eli Shukran.
They intended to carry out these standard excavations for about six months; but now, 10 years later, they are still excavating the site.
The funding, however, now comes from the Ir David Foundation, which, in 1986, was granted the authority to act on behalf of the Jewish National Fund to "reclaim" land in the area.
This is also in accordance with the law, says a spokesman for the IAA, which mandates that the organization which intends to develop an area, as is the intent of the Ir David Foundation, is also required to fund and execute any and all archeological digs on the site.
Reich's and Shukran's digging has unearthed valuable finds. Most recently, they have uncovered over 60 bullae (broken clay seals) and six stamps used to seal letters, attesting to the fact that literacy and a system of administration were in place in Jerusalem as early as the ninth century BCE.
They have also discovered thousands of fish bones that, together with the bullae were found in an area that Reich and Shukran believe to be the Shiloah Pool, used as a ritual bath for the Temple Mount, and a tiled road which ends at the pool and has its origins near the Temple Mount. Ostensibly, this is the road that worshipers used to go back and forth between the Shiloah Pool and the Temple Mount.
The second team, headed by Dr. Eilat Mazar, entered the picture in 1997. Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based conservative think tank, is a graduate of the Hebrew University, and granddaughter of the famous archeologist Binyamin Mazar.
Mazar has said that she uses clues and evidence garnered from the Bible and from years of digging with her grandfather.
In an article published in the Biblical Archeology Review in 1997, Mazar wrote that she thought she knew where to find King David's palace.
When Kenyon dug in the 1960s, she found a casement wall that she dated to the 10th century BCE. Mazar thought that this wall could well be part of the palace.
Additionally, Kenyon found proto-Aeolic capitals (elaborately engraved stone structures that stood atop large columns). According to most experts, these capitals are the most beautiful and impressive ever found in Israel,, suitable for a palace.
Mazar further hypothesizes that since in II Samuel 5:17 it is written that David descends from his residence to the citadel, David must have come from the north. The north, she explains, is the only direction that he could have "come down from," since the rest of the city is surrounded by valleys. Furthermore, she reasons, it would have made sense for the citadel to have been built on a high point, and, because the north of the city was always vulnerable to attack, it would have required such a citadel for its defense.
Mazar began her excavation in 1999 in a project jointly funded by the Shalem Center and the Ir David Foundation. She uncovered a large building that, she believes, was built approximately in 1000 BCE - about the time that David is thought to have conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites.
She further claims that pottery shards that she found date from the 10th to the sixth century BCE, which attests to the constant use of the site over periods of many centuries.
One of Mazar's most significant finds was a seal with the name Jehucal son of Shelemiah, a figure mentioned in Jeremiah 37:3. Mazar dates the seal to the First Temple Period, based on the dating of similar seals discovered by Shiloh in the 1980s excavations.
