City of David excavation, 2011

The Givati Parking Lot dig is an archaeological excavation located in Silwan. It is adjacent to the City of David archaeological site. The dig was conducted by Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the City of David Foundation.[1]

History

Excavations of the former Givati Parking Lot began in 2007.[2] Among the 2007 discoveries is an ancient building believed to have been the palace of Queen Helena of Adiabene.[3]

Part of hoard dated to the time of Byzantine emperor Heraclius

In 2008 archaeologists uncovered a hoard of 264 gold coins minted at the beginning of the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius, between the years 610–613 CE, thus just before the Persian conquest of Jerusalem.[4]

In 2010, the dig produced a small, Roman-era cameo of Cupid. It is made from onyx. The cupid is in a "striking" blue on a dark brown ground, he has wings and curly hair. The round cameo would have been an insert in a piece of jewelry. Cupid's left hand rests on an overturned torch, symbolizing death, so it was probably a mourning piece.[1][5]

Glacis associated with the Acra, 2015

In November 2015, discovery of a tower and glacis identified as belonging to the Seleucid fortress known as the Acra was announced.[6] According to archaeologists Doron Ben-Ami, Yana Tchekhanovets and Salome Dan Goor they had unearthed a complex of rooms and fortified walls they identified as the Acra. Finds include fortification walls, a watchtower measuring 4 by 20 meters, and a glacis. Bronze arrowheads, lead sling-stones and ballista stones were unearthed at the site, stamped with a trident characteristic to the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. These are indicative of the military nature of the site and the efforts to take it. The finds also included were coins from the reigns of Antiochus Epiphanes through Antiochus VII Sidetes, as well as a multitude of stamped Rhodian amphora handles.[6][7]

Archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer disagrees with this identification. He claims the location and north–south orientation of the fortifications make them part of the defensive walls of what is known today as the City of David and described by Josephus as the Lower City. This Lower City was fortified by the Seleucids, who built the citadel known as Acra. But in Greek any fortification is called an acra, this is a common noun, not a proper one, thus some confusion as to which fortification each specific ancient description is referring to: the refortified City of David, which Ritmeyer identifies as Josephus' southern part of the Lower City, or the Acra proper, the entirely new fortress. Based on the writings of Josephus and 1 Maccabees 1:33,[8] Ritmeyer argues (a) there were two distinct fortified structures in the Lower City and (b) the new citadel, the Acra, was higher than the Temple, which it overlooked. Given that the new finds from the Givati Parking Lot are some 200 metres away from the Temple Mount of the Hellenistic period, and at a much lower elevation than the Mount, they could not be part of the Acra that "overlooked the temple".[9]

In 2019, a seal bearing the inscription "(belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King" was discovered. The discoverers believe this seal probably refers to the official Nathan-melech mentioned in 2 Kings 23:11.[10] In 2023, a series of channels dating to the 9th century BCE were also discovered.[11]

Excavated ruins at the former Givati Parking Lot

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to City of David Givaty parking lot.

31°46′23″N 35°14′11″E / 31.773056°N 35.236389°E / 31.773056; 35.236389

References

  1. 1 2 "2,000 year-old cameo found in Jerusalem," Archived 2010-09-02 at the Wayback Machine Aug. 30, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
  2. ↑ Givati Parking Lot Archived 2022-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, City of David Visitor Center
  3. ↑ Ben-Ami, Doron; Tchekhanovets, Yana (2011). "Has the Adiabene Royal Family "Palace" Been Found in the City of David?". In Galor, Katharina; Avni, Gideon (eds.). Unearthing Jerusalem: 150 Years of Archaeological Research in the Holy City. Penn State Press. pp. 231–240. ISBN 978-1-57506-659-2.
  4. ↑ Israel Antiquities Authority, "A Hoard Comprising Hundreds of Gold Coins was Uncovered in the Excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is Conducting at the 'Giv'ati Car Park' in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park" Archived 2016-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, 22 December 2008. Accessed 23 June 2022.
  5. ↑ "Israel archeologists uncover 2,000-year-old cupid in City of David dig Israel Antiquities Authority says added inlaid semi-precious stone is of the 'Eros in mourning,' one of a group of visual motifs linked with mourning practices." Archived 2010-09-01 at the Wayback Machine Aug. 30, 2010, Haaretz.
  6. 1 2 Eisenbud, D. (November 3, 2015). "Archeological find in Jerusalem's City of David may answer ancient mystery". Jerusalem Post. Jerusalem. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ Zilberstein, Ayala (2021). "Hellenistic Military Architecture from the Givʿati Parking Lot Excavations, Jerusalem". In Berlin, Andrea M.; Kosmin, Paul J. (eds.). The Middle Maccabees: Archaeology, History, and the Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom. SBL Press. pp. 37–52. ISBN 978-0-884-14504-2.
  8. ↑ 1 Maccabees 1:33
  9. ↑ Ritmeyer, Leen (November 11, 2015). "The mysterious Akra in Jerusalem". Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  10. ↑ Mendel-Geberovich, Anat; Shalev, Yiftah; Bocher, Efrat; Shalom, Nitsan; Gadot, Yuval (2019). "A Newly Discovered Personal Seal and Bulla from the Excavations of the GivꜤati Parking Lot, Jerusalem". Israel Exploration Journal. 69 (2): 154–174. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27098633.
  11. ↑ Gadot, Yuval; Bocher, Efrat; Freud, Liora; Shalev, Yiftah (2023). "An Early Iron Age Moat in Jerusalem between the Ophel and the Southeastern Ridge/City of David". Tel Aviv. 50 (2): 147–170. doi:10.1080/03344355.2023.2246811.
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