New, more accurate dating of archaeological sites in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David neighborhood supports historical events described in the Bible, including the colonization of the Israeli capital, a major earthquake and its destruction by the Babylonians.
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New study in Jerusalem confirms biblical events
- For the discovery, researchers studied sediments from human occupations and concentrations of radioactive carbon in charred seeds.
- 103 seed samples were examined from five sites in the Old Quarter in Jerusalem, south of the Temple Mount.
- The new approach combined radiocarbon dating and analytical methods called “microarchaeology.”
- The dates were verified with atmospheric radiocarbon measurements of the growth rings of trees that grew between 624 and 572 BC.
What was discovered?
The study was able to determine dates from an ancient period known as “Hallstatt plateau“, between 770 and 420 BC. For example, new evidence has been revealed that Jerusalem was colonized between the 12th and 10th centuries BC and that the city expanded westward in the 9th century BC.
Researchers also found evidence of an earthquake in the mid-eighth century BC, followed by a period of reconstruction — an event mentioned in the Bible but never dated. The period ended with the Babylonian destruction in 586 BC, also described in the Bible.
For Elisabetta Boaretto, professor of archaeological sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and author of the study published in the journal PNASthe discoveries provide an unprecedented chronology of the ancient city.
Tags: Biblical Events Confirmed Radiocarbon Dating
