‘Is it part of a government programme?’
‘Every site requires the permission of the Israel Antiquities Authority, IAA, which comes under the Ministry of Culture and Education, this one is excavated by the university under Dr. Eilat Mazar.’
‘Do you know what they have found?’ asked O’Connelly.
‘Rumours speak of a palace,’ said Shlomo.
‘A palace?’
‘King David’s palace.’
‘That’s incredible,’ exclaimed Laura.
‘Not so fast, it’s dated from around the tenth century BC when King David was supposed to exist, but there is no other concrete evidence, at least that I know of.’
‘Will there be some kind of publication?’
‘I’ve heard nothing for the moment. This kind of work takes time and money, the state controls archaeological excavations but it does not finance them, funds have to be found, in addition to that you can’t go charging in with a bulldozer.’
‘Jerusalem and its surroundings are so filled with history that you have just to scrap the top soil and something turns up,’ said Solly. ‘Any construction work in Israel requires the presence of an archaeologist. The problem is however which archaeologist, because each and every archaeologist represents a school of archaeology or of religious or political conviction.’
‘So it’s all very political.’
‘You’re dead right there, the number of factions are endless, there’s of course Jews with a whole spectrum of viewpoints, from the strictly archaeological and almost anti-Bible position to the hard-line strictly Bible Orthodox Jews. Then there’s Muslims who have a curious attitude supporting all confirmation concerning the holy site but rejecting ancient history that might show Jewish possession from very ancient times, naturally this includes the Palestinians with their political standpoint. Lastly there’s the Christians who are even more varied than the Jews, they go from the fanatical Bible punchers to the Vatican and the Orthodox Church.’
‘Eilat Mazar believes she has found King David’s tenth century palace.’
‘She belongs to which archaeological school?’
‘She has been sponsored by the Shalem Centre, that’s a non-conservative think tank in Jerusalem.’
‘How does that affect her work?’
‘Well it’s very politically orientated since the Shalem Centre, a non-conservative think tank, wants to prove that Jerusalem was the capital of the ancient kingdom of the Hebrews thus reinforcing a claim on Jerusalem as the capital city of the Jewish people.’
‘Against the Palestinians?’
‘Exactly.’
‘So what has she found?’
‘The most important find is a major public building that dates from around the 10th century BC together with pottery shards that have been dated to the time of David and Solomon, and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.’
‘Thirty centuries old, that’s incredible. What’s your opinion?’
‘Well its an extraordinary find, art of the foundations of a sizeable public building have been uncovered, built in Phoenician style dating from the 10th or 9th century BC, that’s the time of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon. So there is no doubt that it’s a very important discovery, but the historical interpretation remains unclear for the moment. The site is just outside of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the City of David, below the Mount of Olives and near the Kedron Valley, that’s to the south of the Dome of the Rock. That means that Jews, Muslims, and Christians dispute its historical interpretations.’
‘Anything to with the Temple Mount is explosive and a real thorn in the side of the Israeli government.’
‘Why?’ said Laura surprised.
‘The government’s job is to run the country – keep the peace – with the Temple Mount being a constant source of problems. Let me give you an example, in 1999 the Waqf, that is the Muslim authorities, decided to carry out work on the Temple Mount, over which they have full authority, to build a new mosque and started excavation without any consideration for archaeological aspects. They proceeded to excavate a huge amount of earth and rock and dumping outside of the city walls. Naturally that caused an uproar and finally permission was given to Jewish and Christian archaeologists to sift through about seventy truckloads of rubble.’
‘So going back to King David’s palace?’
‘Well, Mazar figured that she knew where David’s legendary palace might be, that is just outside the walls of the ancient city. The Bible describes it as a palace and the seat of an important kingdom, but others say David’s city was just another small town run by tribal chieftains who controlled a few rocky hilltops. However, if it turns out to be as described in the Bible then it proves the Jews have ancient roots there thus justifying their territorial claims.’
‘And what is the position of serous archaeologists?’
Shlomo laughed: ‘Serious archaeologists, how do you define serious? On the one hand is the Bible and on the other a pile of old stones. The problem is to fit the pieces of the puzzle together without using one to make the other say something you want to hear.’
‘But you as a Jew believe in the Bible.’
‘Religion, history and archaeology are mixed with written traditions, and written traditions are mixed with oral traditions and myths. A lot of the Bible is based on the traditions handed down by an ancient society that transmitted its history orally, so by the time it was written down it had been changed to suit political ideas and fit in with kind of legends that form national identity, so what really happened in the 10th century BC in a small recently nomadic society is as good as fiction.’
‘Oh!’
‘Yes I’m sorry to say that’s how it is, one of my friends at Al Quds University, likes to explain it by saying they found a button and want to make a suit out of it.’
They all laughed.
‘So how come the palace is outside of the City Walls?,’ asked O’Connelly.
‘Ancient Jerusalem in David’s time was not the Old City you can see today. It was perhaps built on the hill where the Haram now stands. According to the Bible David captured the city, which was no doubt nothing more than a small village, which is why he built his palace just outside of the walls directly to the south above the Kedron Valley, this is what we call the City of David.’
‘Just a small village!’
‘Yes. You have to remember that several generations of archaeologists have work on excavations in and around the city, including Mazar’s grandfather. Before him was a certain Robert MacAlister in the 1920s, followed by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s then Yigal Shilo in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenyon had found evidence of well-worked stones and proto-aeolic capitals, which decorated the tops of columns, evidence of a large important building,’ Ziv told them.
‘It will no doubt be the start of a battle between specialists,’ Shlomo added.
‘That’s for sure, it was Israel Finkelstein who suggested that Jerusalem at that time was nothing more than a typical hill-country village without any sign of monumental architecture or even simple pottery shards in the floor of the building. So it’s a kind of revenge for Eilat Mazar, discovering what looks like some kind of public building and some datable pottery, especially the seal – said to belong to an official called Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi who is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.’
‘It’s not some kind of button?’ asked O’Connelly.
‘Perhaps.’
40
The Bulla