Saturday, July 20, 2013 _The Times of Israel _ (http://www.timesofisrael.com/)
< Archaeologists say they’ve found one of King David’s palaces Two large structures — one said to be monarch’s palace; the other a royal storeroom — uncovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa site near Jerusalem and dated to Davidic period By _Lazar Berman_ (http://www.timesofisrael.com/writers/lazar-berman/) July 18, 2013, 3:58 pm (http://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-say-one-of-king-davids-palaces-found/#comments) (http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2013/07/Davids-Palace-e1374142092527.jpg) Khirbet Qeiyafa, where some archaeologists believe King David built his palace (photo credit: courtesy/ Israel Antiquities Authority) Two Israeli archaeologists announced that they have found a palace and royal storehouse that belonged to King David. The two buildings are the largest structures standing during the tenth century BCE to have been found in the territory of the Kingdom of Judah. The discovery was made at Khirbet Qeiyafa near Beit Shemesh southwest of Jerusalem, said Professor Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority on Thursday. Over the past year, the researchers uncovered the two buildings at the site, which is believed by some to be the fortified Judean city of Shaarayim. According to the biblical record, after David smote Goliath, the Philistines were slaughtered on the road to Shaarayim as they fled. Shaarayim means “two gates,” and Khirbet Qeiyafa has two gates in its walls. The two archaeologists identified one building as David’s palace and the other as a massive royal storeroom. The excavation of the site as a whole has stretched on for seven years. When David would visit this important regional center, “he definitely didn’ t live in a simple home,” Ganor told The Times of Israel. “Khirbet Qeiyafa is the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David,” read a statement released by the researchers. “ The southern part of a large palace that extended across an area of c. 1,000 sq m was revealed at the top of the city. The wall enclosing the palace is c. 30 m long and an impressive entrance is fixed it through which one descended to the southern gate of the city, opposite the Valley of Elah. Around the palace’s perimeter were rooms in which various installations were found – evidence of a metal industry, special pottery vessels and fragments of alabaster vessels that were imported from Egypt.” “This is the only site in which organic material was found — including olive seeds — that can be carbon-14 dated” to the period of King David’s reign, Israel Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Yoli Schwartz told The Times of Israel. (http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2013/07/David-Palace-II.jpg) The remains of what Israeli archaeologists believe is King David’s palace at Khirbet Qeiyafa (photo credit: Courtesy/ Israel Antiquities Authority) In addition, the location of the buildings fit the requirements of an Iron Age palace. “The palace is located in the center of the site and controls all of the houses lower than it in the city. From here one has an excellent vantage looking out into the distance, from as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Hebron Mountains and Jerusalem in the east. This is an ideal location from which to send messages by means of fire signals.” Garfinkel and Ganor believe that the pillared building, 15 meters (49 feet) long by 6 meters wide in the north of the city, was used as a royal storeroom. “It was in this building the kingdom stored taxes it received in the form of agricultural produce collected from the residents of the different villages in the Judean Shephelah,” they said. “Hundreds of large store jars were found at the site whose handles were stamped with an official seal as was customary in the Kingdom of Judah for centuries.” They see the finds as evidence of centralized construction and royal administrative organization during King David’s rule. “This is unequivocal evidence of a kingdom’s existence, which knew to establish administrative centers at strategic points,” they argued. “To date no palaces have been found that can clearly be ascribed to the early tenth century BCE as we can do now. Khirbet Qeiyafa was probably destroyed in one of the battles that were fought against the Philistines circa 980 BCE. The palace that is now being revealed and the fortified city that was uncovered in recent years are another tier in understanding the beginning of the Kingdom of Judah.” In light of the find, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority are working with local planning bodies to cancel the impending construction of a neighborhood nearby, and hope to reserve the area around the site as a national park. In 2008, a pottery sherd with five lines of text was discovered at the site. Many scholars believe it to be early Hebrew writing, possibly referring to the ascent of King Saul to the throne. Others argue it features Israelite social rules, while some dispute the idea that it is written in Hebrew at all. The sherd currently sits in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. Garfinkel and Ganor believe that what remained of the palace was further damaged during the Byzantine period when a fortified farmhouse was built on the site. Another prominent Israeli archaeologist has long claimed to have uncovered David’s Jerusalem palace, mentioned in II Samuel: “Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.” In 2005, Eilat Mazar, granddaughter of the “dean” of biblical archaeology, Benjamin Mazar, began digging in the oldest portion of Jerusalem, the City of David. She focused on Area H, above the Stepped Stone Structure, a massive Jebusite Iron Age fortified building. She believed that the spot on the northern edge of the City of David was a prime candidate for the site of David’s palace. II Samuel states that after David heard that the Philistines were gathering to make war against him, he “went down to the stronghold” from his palace. She decided to dig in Area H, the only part of the city higher than the fortress, from which King David would have gone down. Her hypothesis was also supported by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon’ s discovery of elegant masonry in the same area. “When I told my grandfather of my idea about the possible location of David ’s palace,” Mazar wrote in Biblical Archaeology Review, “he was enthusiastic about it. ‘Where, exactly,’ he asked me, ‘did Kenyon find the piles of ashlars [nicely hewn rectangular stones] together with the proto-Aeolic (sometimes called proto-Ionic) capital? Wasn’t it right next to the place you’ re talking about?’ Indeed, it was. When I ran to check Kenyon’s reports, I confirmed that ashlar stones and an elegant proto-Aeolic capital had been found literally at the foot of the scarp at the southeastern edge of the structure in Area H. And this was just the kind of impressive remains that one would expect to come from a tenth-century B.C.E. king’s palace.” Mazar found a massive public building there that she called the Large Stone Structure. In addition to Kenyon’s earlier discoveries there, Mazar uncovered pottery sherds from the very end of the Iron Age I period, about 1000 BCE, when David is believed to have captured Jerusalem. However, Mazar’s conclusion is controversial. Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University contend that her overly literal reading of the biblical text skews her analysis of the archaeological record. Baptist Press Archaeological claims that King David's palace was discovered may be overstated, prof says Posted on Jul 19, 2013 | by Erin Roach JERUSALEM (BP) -- Archaeologists say they have uncovered the remains of King David's palace on the site of the biblical battle between David and Goliath, providing key evidence for understanding the origins of the kingdom of Judah. Southern Baptist archeology professors cautioned against concluding the remains are David's actual palace, noting that the discovery in the least is a significant part of the Old Testament figure's kingdom. While one main structure was identified as the palace, a corresponding structure is believed to have been a large storage facility for collecting taxes in the form of agricultural products. "This is the only site in which organic material was found -- including olive seeds -- that can be carbon-14 dated" to David's era, the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which excavated the site with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the Times of Israel newspaper. Yossi Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, the leading researchers involved in the dig, said, "This is indisputable proof of the existence of a central authority in Judah during the time of King David." Until this discovery, no palaces were clearly attributable to the early 10th century B.C., The Jerusalem Post reported July 18. The site, known in modern day as Khirbet Qeiyafa, likely was destroyed in battle against the Philistines in 980 B.C. Evidence that the city came to an end in a sudden destruction, The Post said, includes hundreds of pottery vessels, stone utensils and metal objects left on the floors of houses. Steven Ortiz, associate professor of archeology and biblical backgrounds and director of the Charles D. Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, attended a celebration ceremony at the unveiling of the supposed palace site. "It is an important site for the history of the Israelite monarchy," Ortiz told Baptist Press. "I think Dr. Garfinkel might be overstating the large building. It is indeed a very large building sitting on the acropolis, perfect for a public building. "The site dates to the time of the Davidic monarchy. It is a bit of a stretch to say that it is David's palace," Ortiz said. "If David built a palace it would be in Jerusalem, as the biblical text implies, not in an outlying fortress city. It is best to state that Khirbet Qeiyafa was perhaps a city under the hegemony of the developing Davidic monarchy." The site, known in the Bible as Shaarayim, is located about 18 miles southwest of Jerusalem, on the summit of a hill that borders the Elah Valley on the north, The Post said. Observers indicate it would have been a key strategic location in the kingdom of Judah. Dan Warner, associate professor of Old Testament and archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press the excavation "has certainly set off some excitement in the archaeological community, and Professor Yossi Garfinkel's inferences have not been silenced." "Garfinkel claims to have found a major Israelite settlement from the time of David, clearly suggesting that the Davidic kingdom was real and not fictitious as many liberal scholars claim," Warner said. The discovery, he said, has "added a major building peg in the construction of a Davidic kingdom as the Bible states." Warner noted some significant finds from the excavation. "For one, is an inscription believed to be not Canaanite but early Hebrew. In fact, [Garfinkel] claims it is the earliest Hebrew inscription found anywhere to date," Warner said. The pottery and structures found at the site date to the Davidic and Solomonic period, Warner said, and the absence of pig bones at the site serves as a key indicator of Israelite occupation. Stephen J. Andrews, a professor of Old Testament, Hebrew and archaeology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press the discovery contradicts the views of some assert that if David and Solomon even existed, they were only tribal chieftains who left no lasting impact. “There will be debate within the archaeological community on the exact function of the buildings and on their connection with David and his kingdom. But given the evidence of Qeiyafa's well planned fortified city and the carbon-14 dating pointing to the early Iron II period,” Andrews said, “it will be difficult to deny the existence of a central authority that deliberately built a fortified administrative center there, and, possibly other unexcavated Judean levels at other sites.” Because of the significance of the discovery, the Israel Antiquities Authority collaborated with the National Parks Authority in Israel to reject a proposal to build a new neighborhood close to the site, declaring the area and its surroundings a national park, The Post reported. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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