Discovery
In 1997, Eilat Mazar, seeking to find the Palace of David, used a reference in the Books of Samuel that refers to David going down to the stronghold after having been anointed (2 Samuel 5:17), to estimate where the site might be. Since the only area of higher elevation than Ophel, the oldest part of Jerusalem, is just to its north, she started digging there in February 2005. About 2 meters underneath the surface she discovered 4th to 6th century Byzantine Era artifacts including a well preserved mosaic floor. Beneath these she found artifacts from the Second Temple Period, and finally underneath these she found large foundations of a substantial structure, which she claims to have been the Palace of David.
The first of two notable written finds at the site is a bulla (seal) of a government official named Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi. This person seems to be mentioned (twice) in the Book of Jeremiah and thus presumably lived in the late 7th or early 6th century BC (i.e. at about the same time as Jeremiah). The second bulla discovered at this site is that of another government official, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, of that same time period, who also seems to be named in the Book of Jeremiah.
As of 2005 the dig was ongoing, with progress limited by the current occupants of the land atop the ruins. According to the New York Times,
- Mazar continues to dig, but right now, three families are living in houses where she would most like to explore. One family is Muslim, one Christian, and one Jewish.
By February 2007, the second phase of the dig, which took place on a plot adjacent to the first phase, had revealed that the building was larger than Dr. Mazar had previously thought, included walls that are up to 7 meters thick, and showed that parts of the building relate to the famous "stepped stone structure" discovered and excavated in the 1920s-1980s.
Read more about this topic: Large Stone Structure
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“The discovery of Pennsylvania’s coal and iron was the deathblow to Allaire. The works were moved to Pennsylvania so hurriedly that for years pianos and the larger pieces of furniture stood in the deserted houses.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The new supplants the old. Yet men’s minds are stuffed with outworn bunk. Educating the young in the latest findings of authorities and scholars in the social sciences is important. It is equally important to devise ways and means for aiding the middle-aged and old to reexamine hang-over unscientific doctrines and ideas in the light of recent discovery and research.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)