588 Has the palace of King David or Solomon been found? How big was their capital? New excavations and a bitter dispute over chronology put Jerusalei PERCHED ON A NARROW AND WINDSWEPT hillside and remove from a major trade ou the Jerusalem of 3 millennia amian archives and tian chronicles, And despite a century and a half ignored by Mesop. J only a brief mention in E al texts uncover incontrovertible evide impressive capital described in bibl 2 FEBRUARY 2007 in the archaeological spotlight from which King Davi Solomon presided over a wealthy empire from the Nile to the Euphrat Now, e build ing in Jerusalem has intensified an actimo- rious debate among arch ical ck finds from that early era, team, led by archaedlogi vou SCIENCE ologists and bib. ars over how to date and inverpret The exeavat Eilat Mazar of Gf pots. Shards from Eilat Macar’s dig in Jerusalem ae at the center ofthe nested debate, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, contends hat the discovery bolsters the traditional view that a powerful Jewish king reigned From a substantial eity around 1000 B.C.E “The news isthatthis huge eonsisuction was not built by 2 ‘eferring to the people who lived in the And she goes. step further arguing thac the site is probably that cient Canaanites,” she says, 1 before the Jew of David's palace. Mazar says she will soon publish new radiocarbon dates to back up scologists are hes her claim, But othe the building's identity, and e question the dating. The city was “a ypical highland village” until a century or ays Tel Aviv University archagolo- st Israel Finkelsicin, whose critique 0 made him p.591), ancient Jerusalem's influence has That w f'schotarly ire (see sideb id make the biblical accounts wildly exaggerated, at bes. Age cooking hisone spills over int political and religious sputesas well." Youhave similar situations ughout the ancient Near Fast, but they don’t create the same level of emotion.” says Lawson You her at Trinity wer, an epi Ineernational University in Deerfiele Hlinois lis and devout Chris er to prove the accuracy of the Many nationalist Is siorics about David and Solomon, whereas ‘Some Palestinians suspect that Jewish: Funded excavations aim at legitimiz Israeli control of a city that to Muslims i second only io Mecea The tension over Jerusalem’s past wasevi dent st recent meetings at Brown University and in Washington, DC." where participants ied sometimes loudly and angrily about dating pottery Shards, the influence of Jerusalem 3000 years ago, and the politic Fund ius mat cer ultimately ependson refined dating tech- niques and wider array of artifacts and sites. ‘What took place in the 9th and 10th een- uries BLC.E. all depends on who you tlk to says Anson Rainey, a Tel Aviv University Wall up in the ai ‘No simple site Levant region, which connects Africa and Asia. But most of the ancient traffic of esac Sram Une, 12-14 November 2006 ne the Anescan Stats of Oriental Research anual ‘oeting, Wesington, .C. 15-18 Novenet 2006, lencemag.orgmerchants and armies passed to the west, ng the flat and well-watered Deep in the hills betwi desert and the coast, Jerusal Syrian god, the town is mentioned as early cd th te Hits of Ali oa Shao casio Satitded deen tpi ed Tames Dallas Ie Jessen and Seal Wie tecegeor Moy oiseaie onan Han neha aad los dub ieee men seen § fusion. And some of ancient Jerusal eck the § cal and religious sensitivities $ Now Eilat Mazar-—a cousin to Amita § Mazarin the intimate world of Israeli archae~ & ology has wrapped up her second season of digging ac what she argues is likely David's David's city taza’s dig is south of palace. She announced her initial finds last year, making headlines around the world. In 2005, her tcam sarted digyiny at the top of a large stepped-stone structure located at the rrowest point ofthe hill that makes up the City of David, That structure, an impressive 37 meters high, is made up of stone terrae that many archaeologists date wo the | prior to the arrival ofthe Jews, ly funded by a Whose workis la Jewish-American investment banker, has uncovered a large building on top of the and she believes both structures sWsvel structure ‘were erected at the same time: clear this is one hus ays. Her current excavation shows a build Dome ofthe Rock (op tis the sito earl eraalam, teardropshapes hl ing that covered a meters. She aids that the complex app stand outside the original Jebusite city, and ‘both the new building and more elaborate pottery left after the building’s construction ‘mark a clear break with the past. The site, Mazar notes, also matches biblical verses thot talk of King David descending from his palace indicating tht it was on abi Other archact although united in jon that Mazar's find is, exttemely important, are skeptical, Some maintain that tis more likely to bea Jebusite citadel rather than a palace built by David or much as 2000 square their conv NEWSFOCUS L Solomon, whereas others question whether rately lated, the complex can ever be given its poor state of preservation, “The building isin bad shape, and so far she h yo Foal a floor” notes Gabriel Baka, an archacologist at Bar-Ilan University in Raat Gan who recently visited the site That means “we have to rely ona chronolo, ical sandwich,” adds Amihai Mazar, who also is familiar with the dig Time troubles The key. then. is dating the elaborate pottery ‘on the top and the coarse pottery on the bot tom of that sandwich, And that is no easy matter, beeause no Jerusalem samples wer tadiocarhon-dated prior to Mazar's recent finds. Eaulier archaeologists had not bothered to vather organic samples because radiocarbon dates for historical tim imprecise, with error bars of | or 2 centuries. Newer cali: tions can sometimes pinpoint dares to within 50 years (Seionce 15 September 2006, p. 1560), but it has taken time to adopt them. “Using radiocarbon ia his- torical times is quite a young stubject,” Amuhai Mazar says. As a result, archaeologists here have dated sites based solely on pottery styles. Eilat Mazar dates the com- periods were plex to about 1000 B.C.E.,a date based both on new radiocarbon data as well as her interpretation fof the pottery found atthe site Althouigh many others see the plain ware 2s typical oF the early Iron Age—that is, around the 12th century B.C.E. she believes it was used in Jeb Jerusalem right up to the time of the Jews" arrival, Mazar has also taken three new radiocarbon samples of bone and olive pits from under the building —the first samples in Jerusalem to be subjected to radiocarbon dating. These were associated with the plain pot- tery, and they date from 1050 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E., give or take a half-cen just prior to the time of Davidh she Says, Sh also found a fourth sample at a later level associated with mote elaborate postery wi Phoenician and Cypriot influence, in what appears to be an addition to the building That m by the carly Jews in Jerusalem, dates to berween 1050 B.C.E. and 780 BCE, with D and inthe ial, which she believes was used ncomag.org SCIENCE VOL31S 2 FEBRUARY 2007 589a NEWSFOCUS 590 ‘one analysis pinpointing date to about 930 B.C.E The radiocarbon data have yet to be Published, but even without them, Barkai, Amihai Mazar, and most other archacolo- gists who work in the area say that Jerusalem's pottery-based ehronolo good enough, if inexact. Others—including Finkelsteinvehemenily disagree and are agitating for a more accurate system that anchors the pottery firmly to radiocarbon dates. They point to the many carbon-14 samplesobiained tothe north of ferusalemin the old kingdom of Israel. A team of Israehi scientists has taken more than 500 radio- ‘carbon measurements from more than 150 samples fiom 25 sites, primarily inthe north. Those results, says team member Han Sharon of Hebrew University, provide com- pelling evidence that the conventional chronology is off by a century, placing ‘events earlier than they occurred. Mier visiting Mazar’s dig this week, Finkelstein says the buil bea late asthe 6th century BCE. Iso the picture of ‘410th century united monarchy with monu- ‘mental buildings fallsapart, “There is no evi dence fora glamorous capital of Jerusalem, he mainiains. For him, the biblical accou ‘of Solomon's golden age were written c turies later, with an eye tocontemporury pol- the most likely Allin the Family [Asa young archaeologist aging inthe City of Davi, an ancient ste jst south of walled Jerusalem, Eilat Mazar unearihed huge pottery vessels i Samara, wsy_ 98088 ‘Shacher®| Prosaten, Jae eton,"teNebem ‘Ancient ingdoms spay Bl Perce wT ities rather than historical accuracy. Archae- logist Rafi Greenberg of Tel Aviv Univer- sity adds that the countryside around Jerusalem lacks the villages one would expect £0 Support a substantial own oF city “In the late Sth century B.C.E., there was rapid development, but we find zileh before then,” he says. “Jerusalem is the worst possi= ble site forasricultureand can only sustain ‘optimistically —about 500 people: But those who back the conventional chronology dismiss this ew as uninformed eh other. ut she insists her attachment is purely scholar ‘at best and foolish at worst, They say the ‘early Jewish city was well-fortfied, included monumental buildings and structures, and ‘operated san important regional power, if no asthe large empire imagined by biblical wwniters, Mazar’ find provides additional ei dence of a significant city, says Jane Cabil, aan archaeologist based in Houston, Texas, who is assoctated with Hebrew University, and has dug in the City of David: “The stepped-stone structure is the most impre: sive monument in Israel until Cahill estimates that 10th century BCE. Jerusalem, extending over 12 acres oF S hectares, was home to 1200 t0 1500 peo ple small eompared to contemporary c such as Babylon, but large for the Jude: highlands of the era. Finkelstein's and Greenbeng’s views are angrily challenged by many Jerusalem archaeologists, who accuse them of taking anextreme “ii vw that the Bible ‘flrs little oF no guidance for historians. “L believe in the accuracy of the biblical accounis—I don’t think they invented King Solomon,” declares Barkai. Cahill takes Finkelstein to task wg porthera and southern pottery. which she says are cultur- ally distinct, She also notes that Cypriot and other foreign pottery in Eilat Mazar’s build- ing tie it neatly to the 10th century B.C.E times. ve never felt {eliious connection tomy work,” ‘The connection, honeve, she learned of buleing activi deeply felt She was outraged in 2000 hen ‘on the Temple Mount, an important buried just before Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, destroyed Jewsatem 2500 years ago. The pots weve stamped with ancient Hebrew ‘writing —and she could read it. The moment crystallized her sense of belonging to the contested cy. “This was my language, notsome foreign tongue atid itspeaks to no | am today and where was bor,” Maza says. Today, at 50, Hebrew University archaeologist Mazar is wrapping up 2 second season uncovering what could be the most significant archaeolog- ‘cal find in Jerusalem's history: the palace ofthe king who, according to biblical texts, united the ancient Israelites (see main text). For her, excavating in Jerusalem is more than a purely scenic endeavor; it {is also a family affair, hearly steeped in the complex history, patti, and reliaion ofthe place. ‘Mazac grew up in a secular home which noneth {ess included innumerable editions of the Bible and ‘commentaries on it. She still prizes the Bible once owned by her grandlather, Benjamin Mazat, a renowned archaeologist and Polish emigrant. "He was ‘my main teacher relative to thinking and methodol- gy, and how to combine historical sources with archaeology” she says. Mazars attachment to those Sources is legendary, she is fond of saying that she digs with one hand while holding the Bible in the that is called the Harim a Sharif by Muslims, who have controlled it for ‘most ofthe ast millennium. Mazar formed a conus to protest dostuc~ tion of anticuitis onthe sitebut wes disappointed hen ial authorities took lite action, he adds that har protest isnot religious or politcal: “slamic monuments are being destoyed too. This sasite important othe worli’s cultural hertag But some Palestinians find that hard to square with Isael’s own crt 2 FEBRUARY 2007 VOL 315 SCIENCE policy about excavations. Hamed Salem, a Birze University archaeologist wha lives near Mazar’ cu rent dig, explains that “the Palestinian view is that this digs ilegal” bacause the territory is consid- ered occupied by the israelis under international law. Archaeology is supposed to be neutral,” says Salem. "The conclusions which come out of this excavation mil not be on 2 purely scientific basis.” And afew Israeli archaeologists fear that her fund Ing, which comes through Jerusalem's Shalem Center, a Jewish research institute, creates at least the appearance of a nationalist cather than purely scientific endeavor. ‘Mazar, however, insists that she isnot digging to prove anyone's preconceived notion. “'m trying my best, shesays, “to keep an openming.” ~A.L, swan scioncemag.org