Background Information Old Testament New Testament New Testament (cont.) Gentile Period (cont.)
1-Biblical Jerusalem 16-Salem, Jebus 33-Ashlar Stones 51-Bethesda Pool 68-Saint Anne's Church
2-History of Jerusalem 17-Milo, Jebusite Wall 34-Temple Mount 52-Holy Sepulcher 69-Sultan's Pool
3a-Map of Today's City 18-Gihon Springs 35-NE of End of Wall 53-Garden Tomb 70-Citadel
3b-The Four Quarters 19-City of David 36-SE End of Wall 54-Fort Antonia 71-Colonnade Column
3c-Photos 20-David's Palace 37-Western Wall 55-Phasael Tower  
3d-Silwan 21-Temple Mount 38-West Wall Tunnel 56-Struthion Pool  
4-The Walls Today 22-Solomon's Walls 39-Mikvah, Ritual Baths 57-Gethsemane  
5-The Gates Today 23-Solomon's Quarries 40-The Large Mikvah 58-Tombs in Hinnom Miscellaneous
6-Archaeology Periods 24-Broad Wall 41-Wilson's Arch 59-Jerusalem Tombs Archaeological Finds
7-Archaeology History 25-Hezekiah's Tunnel 42-Warren's Gate Gentile Period Jason's Tomb
8-Old Ancient Core 26-Middle Gate 43-Barclay's Gate 60-Ecce Homo Lazarus' Tomb
9-Kidron Valley 27-Nehemiah's Wall 44-Robinson's Arch 61-Roman Inscription Tomb of David
10-Central Valley Hasmonean 45-Western Wall Street 62-Cardo Maximus Via Dolorosa
11-Hinnom Valley 28-Walls and Towers 46-Western Wall Shops 63-Roman Road Bazaars
12-Mount of Olives 29-Aqueduct 47-South Temple Wall 64-Nea Church Hezekiah's Pool
13-Mount Moriah 30-Acra 48-Archaeology Park 65-Al Aqsa Mosque Lachish and Assyria
14-Western Hill Mt Zion 31-Temple Mount 49-Siloam Road 66-Dome of the Rock .Ancient Artifacts, Period Pieces
15-Ophel 32-Tombs in Kidron 50-Siloam Pool 67-Temple Mount  
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7- Archaeological History of Jerusalem

Although he never left the Netherlands, Adriaan Reland (1676-1718), a Dutchman, wrote a detailed geographical survey of Palestine in 1696.

Edward Robinson, an American theologian, visited Jerusalem in 1838. He discovered Hezekiah’s Tunnel and the remains of
Herod Agrippa’s wall expansion from 41 AD. He also identified the remains of an arch on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, now
called Robinson’s Arch.


Robinson's Arch

He then published the first topographical study of the land of Palestine in 1841. The first archaeological dig in Jerusalem took place
in 1863.

Charles W. Wilson came to Jerusalem to help improve the water system, but he used this position as a cover to dig tunnels and
shafts under the city to explore the ancient remains. His maps and diagrams are still used today. Wilson documented a series of
arches and vaults that supported a bridge which led up to an entrance on the west side of the temple. Today
these arches are called Wilson’s Arch.


One of Warren's shafts that is still visible along the Western Wall Tunnels

In 1867 General Sir Charles Warren began a threeyear period of “undercover” excavation. The Ottoman government prohibited
excavation around the Temple Mount, so Warren dug a series of vertical shafts adistance away from the Temple Mount walls and
then turned and tunneled horizontally until he reached the wall. He discovered the huge blocks fallen from theTemple Mount,
the gutter system and the foundation course of Herod’s Temple. Today 230 feet north of Robinson’s arch, one of Warren’s shafts
that reaches the foundation of the Western Wall can still be seen. Warren also discovered the pier which supported
Robinson’s Arch 41 feet west of Robinson’s Arch on the wall, and he identified the shaft Joab used to enter the
Jebusite city in David’s day. Today it is called Warren’s Shaft.


One of many vertical shaft secretly cut down along the Western Temple Mount wall by Charles Warren in 1867-1870.

German Conrad Schick was shown the inscription inside Hezekiah’s Tunnel in 1880 by two young boys. He also discovered a
second tunnel running into the Pool of Siloam in 1886. Hermann Guthe used the book of Nehemiah in 1881 to uncover the eastern
city wall on the eastern hill south of the Temple Mount. His excavation along the eastern slope began the debate that identified this
eastern hill as the original site of Jerusalem which David took from the Jebusites, the City of David.


Toni shows where Schick found the inscription in Hezekiah's Tunnel in 1880 before it was removed by Muslims for pillage, recovered by the British and kept in the Istanbul Museum.

The eastern slope after excavation - first identified by Guthe in 1881 as the original site of David's City Jerusalem. This Stepped Stone Wall was uncovered in 1923 by Macalister.

In 1923 R.A.S. Macalister and J.G. Duncan uncovered the eastern side of the City of David in the area of the Jebusite Tower and
revealed the Stepped Stone Wall.

From 1961-1967 Kathleen M. Kenyon excavated during the rule of the Jordanians after the war of 1948. She excavated Byzantine
dwellings and other locations outside the south wall of the Temple Mount.


Area south of the Temple Mount (seen in upper left) excavated by Kenyon in the 1960's. This area is known as the Ophel and is located just north of David's original city (located to the right). The Mount of Olives is seen in the background.

Within a year of the Jews winning the Six Day War, Benjamin Mazar began a ten-year excavation period from 1968 to 1978. He represented
Hebrew University and the Israel Exploration Society. He focused on the area southwest and south of the Temple Mount. His work in a large
area extends from Robinson’s Arch uncovered remains from the days of the First Temple and the Second Temple period to the Herodian
street under Robinson’s Arch and a stone bearing the inscription, “to the trumpeting place to” which had once stood on the Temple Mount
itself. This cut stone marked the place for the priest to sound the trumpet to announce holy days to the people. It also served as a safety
railing for the priests on the highest part of the southwest corner of the temple. Mazar also did extensive work on the Ophel south of the Temple Mount.


Toni sits along a Jerusalem road from 30-70 AD uncovered by Benjamin Mazar after the war of 1967. This is the south end of the Western Wall of the Temple.

A stone railing that sat at the top of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. The ancient Hebrew inscription says it was where the priest stood to sound the trumpet. When Benjamin Mazar found this stone it had been broken in two pieces when Warren unknowingly broke through it in the 1860's when he was cutting vertical tunnels down along the Temple Mount walls.

In 1975 Meir Ben Dov excavated from the Dung Gate to the Zion Gate. He uncovered the Nea Church, Herodian residences and a large number of mikvah.

Eilat Mazar, the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, began excavating in the City of David near the Gihon Spring in 1986. She has recently uncovered David’s Palace (2007) and a wall built by Solomon (2010).


Eilat Mazar, the grand-daughter of Benjamin Mazar, uncovered David's Palace in 2007. The walls of the a large stone
structure believed to be David's royal palace can be seen with the Kidron Valley in the background.

Besides the well-planned archaeological excavations described above there are also accidental excavations and incidental discoveries like the discovery of the tomb of Caiaphas, the High Priest who condemned Jesus. In December of 1990, modern construction equipment was being used south of the City of David in a forested area when the ceiling of an ancient tomb collapsed. Inside the tomb were burial chambers and ossuary boxes still filled with the bones of people from around 20-70 AD. Among the many ossuary boxes were two highly decorated boxes inscribed “Joseph son of Caiaphas” and another inscribed simply “Caiaphas.” In the boxes were bones of several people including the bones of a 60-year-old man who has been identified as the High Priest Caiaphas who condemned Jesus in 30 AD. Josephus writes about this same Caiaphas identified by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but Josephus calls him “Joseph Caiaphas” (Jewish Antiquities 18:35) and “Joseph who was called Caiaphas of the high priesthood” (Jewish Antiquities 18:95). Caiaphas was high priest from 18-36 AD. Ossuary boxes were used to hold the bones of a deceased person. The dead body was laid on a stone slab in the tomb for about a year. By that time the body would have decomposed, and the bones were collected and placed in an ossuary box. This box then would have been kept in the tomb along with the ossuary boxes of other family members. Archaeological terrorism in Jerusalem has occurred in the past and continues today.

Under Jordanian rule from 1948-1967 a Jewish cemetery with graves dating from the time of Herod’s Temple in the first century was destroyed. Approximately 38,000 graves and tombstones, some from the first century, were smashed or removed for use as paving stones. In addition, recent photos of the Temple Mount indicate that under Muslim control, “Solomon’s Stables” below the southeast side of the Temple Mount have been converted into a mosque. Construction equipment was used to dig up a large area of the Temple Mount and move the stone, debris, and ancient masonry stones to the Kidron Valley. A large stone staircase and entryway down into Solomon’s Stables has been built at the site of the hole dug into the Temple Mount. The construction was completed in 2010, and can be seen in the photos below. The Double Gate Tunnel was also converted to a mosque.


Since 2007 the Muslims have dug a large hole (seen here) on the Temple Mount to build a stair way down into an area under the
Temple Mound known as Solomon's Stables. They destroyed all the archaeological evidence by pulverizing it and dumping it in
the Kidron Valley. They then called this area a mosque, actually, they called it an ancient mosque.

The Kidron Valley and the dumped archaeological soil from the Temple Mount.

New construction material piled up on the Temple Mount
used by Muslims to build and cover up evidence of an ancient
Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.

Despite the destruction of historical evidence by archaeological terrorism, much of Jerusalem remains unexcavated because areas of interest lie under residences, holy sites or the Temple Mount itself. The many discoveries made have been fairly recent considering the long 2,000-year history of the city. Today, archaeological breakthroughs are occurring at a more rapid pace and are being processed more accurately than ever before. The historical reliability of the Scriptures continues to be reinforced through archaeology. Each discovery helps us read the pages of the Bible with a greater level of insight and understanding.

 
 
 
 

 

   

JERUSALEM: HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND
APOLOGETIC PROOF OF SCRIPTURE

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