Historic Ophel Excavation in Jerusalem Showcases a Day at the Dig

Public can see what it is like to dig ancient history in a very ancient city

The ongoing excavation expedition in the historic Ophel area of Jerusalem, which began for this season on August 22, 2012, is providing a rare opportunity for the public to view and keep up-to-date on the progress of the excavation as a team of archaeologists, other specialists, and students from the Herbert W. Armstrong College in Edmond Oklahoma in the U.S. continue to dig and investigate the site. Through regularly posted videos, images and blog updates, the public will be able to follow along as they make weekly discoveries in an area that contains artifacts and structural features that will help illuminate life in Jerusalem from early Islamic times back through the times of the Israelite and Judahite kings.

Recently released to the public, featured below is a video that relates what life is like on a typical day at the dig site. In many ways, it typifies the nature and flow of many similar excavations that take place thoughout the country of Israel, especially during the "high season" summer months.

Led by Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the renewed excavations are focusing on the same area where recent excavations have uncovered not only finds dated to the Second Temple, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, but also what Mazar and others suggest may be the remains of structures attributed to builders during the period of King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. These remains included a section of a massive wall of large, well-dressed stones 70 meters long and 6 meters high. Also uncovered with the wall was a structure interpreted as an inner gatehouse, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse, and a section of a corner tower 8 meters long and 6 meters high, built of carved stones.

The Ophel is the narrow promontory that straddles the southern edge of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Old City, and is thought to contain monumental remains extending from at least the time of the early Israelite and Judahite kings through the Byzantine and early Islamic periods.
More information can be obtained by going to the website at The Key to David's City.


 http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/september-2012/article/historic-ophel-excavation-in-jerusalem-showcases-a-day-at-the-dig


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6WASvqVZmCc