Giant Ancient Moat to Protect Jerusalem Kings Discovered in City of David Park
JERUSALEM, Israel – Archaeologists in the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David have discovered a giant moat that protected the kings of Israel in ancient times.
The moat is at least 27 feet deep and nearly 100 feet wide and was constructed to protect the upper part of the city where the Jewish Temple and the king's palace were located. Constructed more than 3,500 years ago, the moat was a separation barrier that divided the city in two.
The discovery was a joint project of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University funded by the City of David, and was found during an excavation of a parking lot. Building on previous excavations, it was determined that the moat was the lower city's northern fortification line.
Professor Yuval Gadot from Tel Aviv University, the excavation director, stated, "Following the dramatic discovery, we returned to the past excavations of the British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated in the City of David in the 1960s, in an area located slightly east of today's Givati Parking Lot. It became clear to us that Kenyon noticed that the natural rock slopes towards the north, in a place where it naturally should have risen. She thought it was a natural valley, but now it turned out to us that she had uncovered the continuation of the moat, carved to the west."
Gadot continued, "The connection of the two uncovered sections creates a deep and wide moat that extends across at least 70 meters, from west to east." He added, "This is a dramatic discovery that opens up a renewed discussion about the terms from the biblical literature that refer to the topography of Jerusalem, such as the Ophel and the Millo."
The Millo is mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:9 when King David took the city from the Jebusites, and again in 1 Kings 9:15: "Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces (Millo), the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer." (NIV)
IAA excavation director Dr. Yiftach Shalev noted, "The date the moat was dug is unknown. Such significant construction plants and quarrying in Jerusalem are usually dated to the Middle Bronze Age – about 3,800 years ago. If the moat was dug during this period, then it was intended to protect the city from the north – the only weak point of the City of David slope. We are confident that it was used at the time of the First Temple and the Kingdom of Judah (800-900 B.C.E.), so it created a clear buffer between the residential city to the south, and the upper city to the north."
In 1 Kings 11:27, an effort to reshape the topography is mentioned: "Solomon built up the 'Millo' and closed up the breach of the City of David, his father."
A City of David statement explained, "Now it becomes clear that throughout the Iron Age (the days of the First Temple) – the period in which the books of the Bible were compiled and written – the city was divided into at least two distinct parts. This was also the case during the Persian and Hellenistic periods."
The excavation results will be presented in an upcoming conference at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, with the research to be published in an upcoming issue of the periodical, Tel Aviv.
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