The burnt wooden beams discovered in the City of David. (Photo: Reut Vilf, City of David)
A remarkable discovery was made recently at a dig in the Givati Parking Lot, as part of excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University in the City of David, within the Jerusalem Walls National Park: massive wooden beams that were burned during the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.
According to Excavation Director Efrat Bocher, “The beams appear to have served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period. During the destruction, they collapsed onto the floor. We believe that the plaster cladding of the building’s walls, melted by the fire, covered the charred wooden beams, and ultimately enabled their exceptional preservation.”
“It is very rare in Israel to find wood with such a large number of growth rings,” says Dr. Johanna Regev of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Weizmann Institute of Science, who is studying the find. “Here, in the City of David, we found beams with many rings, offering significant research potential – with more growth rings enabling higher dating resolution. Until recently, we could date finds from this time within a range of hundreds of years. Now, as we separate and collect the rings one by one in the field, we can attain much greater precision, potentially narrowing the dating range down to as little as ten years.”
The excavation directors note that Jerusalem’s returning residents, as they began to rebuild the city, probably made a deliberate decision to preserve the memory of the destruction by leaving behind remains that tell the story of the catastrophe.
“The concept of a landscape of memory is familiar from many cultures around the world,” explains Dr. Yiftah Shalev, who directs the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority alongside Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University. According to Dr. Shalev, “Preserving memory is a human need, seeking to preserve what once existed. Here we see it in its clearest form: a deliberate choice to leave ruins in place as a testament to the destruction and build the new layer over them.”
“We are just before Tisha B’Av,” adds Bocher. “This discovery makes you feel that you are witnessing the very moment of destruction, the moment when it all happened. It’s deeply moving.”
Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu commented on the new discovery: “Jerusalem’s soil continues to provide tangible evidence of the city’s ancient past. The wooden beams burned in the destruction of the First Temple stand as a powerful reminder of the Jewish people’s presence in Jerusalem some 2,600 years ago. On the eve of Tisha B’Av, this discovery underscores that our connection to Jerusalem is rooted not only in faith, but also in history, archaeology, and collective memory. It is our responsibility to continue uncovering, preserving, and passing this heritage on to future generations.”
Press release provided by the Israel Antiquities Authority
