Unearthing Jerusalem

150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City

Katharina Galor, Gideon Avni

• Publisher: Eisenbrauns
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781575062235
• eBook ISBN: 9781575066592
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Table of Contents
• Chapter 1: Where Three Roads Meet: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
• Chapter 2: British Archaeological Work in Jerusalem between 1865 and 1967: An Assessment
• Chapter 3: The German Protestant Institute of Archaeology
• Chapter 4: The American Archaeological Presence in Jerusalem: Through the Gates of the Albright Institute
• Chapter 5: The École Biblique et Archéologique Française: A Catholic, French, and Archaeological Institution
• Chapter 6: The Archaeology of Jerusalem and the Franciscans of the Studium Biblicum
• Chapter 7: The Israel Exploration Society (IES)
• Chapter 8: The Departments of Antiquities andthe Israel Antiquities Authority (1918–2006): The Jerusalem Experience
• Chapter 9: Prehistory of the Jerusalem Area
• Chapter 10: The Archaeology of Early Jerusalem: From the Late Proto-Historic Periods (ca. 5th Millennium) to the End of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 b.c.e.)
• Chapter 11: Jerusalem in the Iron Age: Archaeology and Text; Reality and Myth
• Chapter 12: The Location of the Second Temple and the Layout of its Courts, Gates, and Chambers: A New Proposal
• Chapter 13: Has the Adiabene Royal Family “Palace” Been Found in the City of David?
• Chapter 14: The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem of the Late Second Temple Period and Its Surroundings
• Chapter 15: A Domestic Quarter from the Second Temple Period on the Lower Slopes of the Central Valley (Tyropoeon)
• Chapter 16: Coins from Excavations in the Domestic Quarter of the City of David, Jerusalem
• Chapter 17: On the “New City” of Second Temple Period Jerusalem: The Archaeological Evidence
• Chapter 18: Aelia Capitolina: A Review of Some Current Debates about Hadrianic Jerusalem
• Chapter 19: The Urban Layout of Byzantine-Period Jerusalem
• Chapter 20: Epigraphic Finds Reveal New Chapters in the History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the 6th Century
• Chapter 21: The Hinterland of Jerusalem during the Byzantine Period
• Chapter 22: From Hagia Polis to Al-Quds: The Byzantine–Islamic Transition in Jerusalem
• Chapter 23: Jerusalem and the Beginnings of the Islamic City
• Chapter 24: Early Islamic and Medieval City Walls of Jerusalem in Light of New Discoveries
• Chapter 25: Ayyubid Jerusalem: New Architectural and Archaeological Discoveries
• Chapter 26: Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem