Wall in Jerusalem older than thought, confirming biblical account

[rogue06]

Source: The ruins that could prove the Bible was TRUE: Stretch of wall in ancient Jerusalem vindicates the holy book's account, archaeologists claim

• Experts say the stretch of wall dates back further than previously thought
• The wall is in the City of David - the site that formed the original Jerusalem

A scientific breakthrough has exposed the truth about a site in ancient Jerusalem, overturning expert opinion and vindicating the Bible's account.

Until now, experts believed a stretch of wall in the original heart of the city was built by Hezekiah, King of Judah, whose reign straddled the seventh and eighth centuries BC.

He had seen his neighbours to the north, the Kingdom of Israel, destroyed by the Assyrian Empire, and it was thought that he built the wall to defend against the invaders.

But now an almost decade-long study has revealed it was built by his great-grandfather, Uzziah, after a huge earthquake, echoing the account of the Bible.

The wall is in the City of David – the historic archaeological site that formed the original town of Jerusalem, according to the Bible.

Joe Uziel of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said: 'For decades, it was assumed that this wall was built by Hezekiah, King of Judah.

'But it is now becoming clear that it dates back to the days of King Uzziah, as hinted at in the Bible.

'Until now, many researchers assumed that the wall was built by Hezekiah during his rebellion against Sennacherib, King of Assyria, in order to defend Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege.

'It is now apparent that the wall in its eastern part, in the area of the City of David, was built earlier, shortly after the great earthquake of Jerusalem, and as part of the construction of the city.'

The Old Testament describes the construction in the Second Book of Chronicles.

It reads: 'Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them.'

Scripture also attests to the seismic activity – with the Old-Testament Book of Amos dating itself to 'two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah'.

The study, a joint project between the IAA, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, revealed the provenance of the ancient wall using carbon-14 dating.

Also known as radiocarbon dating, this technique uses the decay of a radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) to measure the time and date objects containing carbon-bearing material.

According to the IAA, this period of history was previously considered a 'black hole' for carbon-14 dating, due to fluctuating levels of the isotope in the atmosphere at the time.

Illustration of the the First Temple Period city fortification built in the days of King Uzziah, around 783 to 742 BC

But using ancient tree rings from Europe, scientists were able to chart these fluctuations year by year.

Elisabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute said: 'The resolution of c-14 was very bad – 200-300 years; it was impossible to distinguish anything else.

'With the work we've done in the City of David, we succeeded to reach a resolution less than 10 years, which is really something very very new and dramatic.'

The scientists took their samples from organic artifacts found at four different excavation sites in the ancient heart of Jerusalem – sometimes called the City of David.

Among these were grape seeds, date pits and even bat skeletons.

All were cleaned, converted into graphite, then put into a particle accelerator at speeds of 3,000km per second to separate the carbon-14 from other organic material.

Measuring the carbon then revealed the sample's true age.

Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University said the method had also pushed back the westward expansion of the city by five generations.

The wall is in the City of David – the historic archaeological site that formed the original town of Jerusalem, according to the Bible

He said: 'Until now, most researchers have linked Jerusalem's growth to the west, to the period of King Hezekiah – just over 2,700 years ago.

'The conventional assumption to date has been that the city expanded due to the arrival of refugees from the Kingdom of Israel in the north, following the Assyrian exile.

'However, the new findings strengthen the view that Jerusalem grew in size and spread towards Mount Zion already in the ninth century BC.

'This was during the reign of King Jehoash – a hundred years before the Assyrian exile.

'In light of this, the new research teaches that the expansion of Jerusalem is a result of internal-Judean demographic growth and the establishment of political and economic systems.'

What's more, it shows that the city was larger than thought during the reigns David and Solomon.

Dr Uziel said: 'During the 10th century BC, the days of David and Solomon, this research has shown that the city is occupied in different areas, and seems to have been larger than we thought previously.

'We can pinpoint specific buildings and relate them to specific kings mentioned in the Biblical text.'

The Kingdom of Judah would last until 587 BC, when the Babylonians besieged and destroyed its capital Jerusalem, along with Solomon's Temple – often called the First Temple.



Source

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A lot more images as well as a 2 minute long video in the original story (available by clicking the hyperlink)

[Cow Poke]

[Juvenal]

Radiocarbon chronology of Iron Age Jerusalem reveals calibration offsets and architectural developments
.

Significance

Establishing a detailed absolute chronology in an actively inhabited urban environment is challenging. The key to the solution is to apply stringent field methodologies using microarchaeological methods, leading to dense, radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences. In Iron Age Jerusalem, 103 ¹⁴C measurements on samples from a range of contexts were used to reconstruct Jerusalem’s urban history. By wiggle matching against the calibration curve, a decadal resolution, not usually possible during the problematic 300-y-long Hallstatt plateau, was achieved. Results also revealed excursions in ¹⁴C concentration that were outside the ranges of the calibration curve, verified by a set of 100 calendar-dated tree rings. This field and lab approach could well be applicable to dating other urban contexts.

Abstract

Reconstructing the absolute chronology of Jerusalem during the time it served as the Judahite Kingdom’s capital is challenging due to its dense, still inhabited urban nature and the plateau shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve during part of this period. We present 103 radiocarbon dates from reliable archaeological contexts in five excavation areas of Iron Age Jerusalem, which tie between archaeology and biblical history. We exploit Jerusalem’s rich past, including textual evidence and vast archaeological remains, to overcome difficult problems in radiocarbon dating, including establishing a detailed chronology within the long-calibrated ranges of the Hallstatt Plateau and recognizing short-lived regional offsets in atmospheric ¹⁴C concentrations. The key to resolving these problems is to apply stringent field methodologies using microarchaeological methods, leading to densely radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences. Using these sequences, we identify regional offsets in atmospheric ¹⁴C concentrations c. 720 BC, and in the historically secure stratigraphic horizon of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BC. The latter is verified by 100 single-ring measurements between 624 to 572 BC. This application of intense ¹⁴C dating sheds light on the reconstruction of Jerusalem in the Iron Age. It provides evidence for settlement in the 12th to 10th centuries BC and that westward expansion had already begun by the 9th century BC, with extensive architectural projects undertaken throughout the city in this period. This was followed by significant damage and rejuvenation of the city subsequent to the mid-eight century BC earthquake, after which the city was heavily fortified and continued to flourish until the Babylonian destruction.

[rogue06]

Radiocarbon chronology of Iron Age Jerusalem reveals calibration offsets and architectural developments
.

Significance

Establishing a detailed absolute chronology in an actively inhabited urban environment is challenging. The key to the solution is to apply stringent field methodologies using microarchaeological methods, leading to dense, radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences. In Iron Age Jerusalem, 103 ¹⁴C measurements on samples from a range of contexts were used to reconstruct Jerusalem’s urban history. By wiggle matching against the calibration curve, a decadal resolution, not usually possible during the problematic 300-y-long Hallstatt plateau, was achieved. Results also revealed excursions in ¹⁴C concentration that were outside the ranges of the calibration curve, verified by a set of 100 calendar-dated tree rings. This field and lab approach could well be applicable to dating other urban contexts.

Abstract

Reconstructing the absolute chronology of Jerusalem during the time it served as the Judahite Kingdom’s capital is challenging due to its dense, still inhabited urban nature and the plateau shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve during part of this period. We present 103 radiocarbon dates from reliable archaeological contexts in five excavation areas of Iron Age Jerusalem, which tie between archaeology and biblical history. We exploit Jerusalem’s rich past, including textual evidence and vast archaeological remains, to overcome difficult problems in radiocarbon dating, including establishing a detailed chronology within the long-calibrated ranges of the Hallstatt Plateau and recognizing short-lived regional offsets in atmospheric ¹⁴C concentrations. The key to resolving these problems is to apply stringent field methodologies using microarchaeological methods, leading to densely radiocarbon-dated stratigraphic sequences. Using these sequences, we identify regional offsets in atmospheric ¹⁴C concentrations c. 720 BC, and in the historically secure stratigraphic horizon of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BC. The latter is verified by 100 single-ring measurements between 624 to 572 BC. This application of intense ¹⁴C dating sheds light on the reconstruction of Jerusalem in the Iron Age. It provides evidence for settlement in the 12th to 10th centuries BC and that westward expansion had already begun by the 9th century BC, with extensive architectural projects undertaken throughout the city in this period. This was followed by significant damage and rejuvenation of the city subsequent to the mid-eight century BC earthquake, after which the city was heavily fortified and continued to flourish until the Babylonian destruction.

It would seem that they were very aware of the challenges and adjusted for them

Elisabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute said: 'The resolution of c-14 was very bad – 200-300 years; it was impossible to distinguish anything else.

'With the work we've done in the City of David, we succeeded to reach a resolution less than 10 years, which is really something very very new and dramatic.'