Expert claims five cities were ruled by biblical figure: is the kingdom of King David among them?

An archaeologist claims that the ruins of five fortified cities outside Jerusalem belonged to the same kingdom ruled by the biblical figure King David.

Yosef Garfinkle of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the cities date to the early 10th century BCE. C., about 200 years of what was previously thought, which places its construction in the time of David.

Garfinkel’s study, published in June, describes cities with two parallel walls in the center and organized roads, suggesting the network was connected to a kingdom.

Although the cities were discovered separately, the archaeologist claims that he is the first to connect the dots, determining that they are an organized urban network built around 1000 BC.

And King David ruled from 1104 to 960 BC during the Iron Age.

David is said to have been a shepherd boy who became the third and most important king of Israel around 1000 B.C. C. when he united all the tribes of Israel under a single monarch, but the story has been disputed due to lack of evidence.

Yosef Garfinkle of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the cities date to the early 10th century BCE. C., about 200 years of what was previously thought, placing its construction in the time of David.

“I hate using the term ‘trying to prove the Bible,’ because I’m not trying to prove anything,” Garfinkel said. israel times.

‘There are Biblical traditions, and we can see if they have historical memories or not… It doesn’t mean that everything, 100 percent, are historical memories.

‘Sometimes there are mistakes, sometimes there are illusions, sometimes there is ideology.’

The ruin sites are at Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tell en-Naṣbeh, Khirbet ed-Dawwara, Lachish and Beth Shemesh, north and west of Jerusalem.

The fortified city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, excavated between 2007 and 2013, was found to include two gates, two plazas, a casemate wall, a peripheral belt of buildings adjoining the city wall, a large colonnaded building, and an important building audience occupying the highest part. site point.

The ruin sites are at Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tell en-Naṣbeh, Khirbet ed-Dawwara, Lachish and Beth Shemesh, north and west of Jerusalem.

The fortified city at Khirbet Qeiyafa was found to include two gates, two plazas, a casemate wall, a peripheral belt of buildings adjoining the city wall, a large pillared building, and an important public building occupying the highest point. of the site.

A casemate consisted of two thinner ones, parallel, with empty space between them.

Beth Shemesh It is located in northern Shephelah, about a day’s walk from Jerusalem, and was discovered in 1911.

“A photograph of the wall of this city shows two casemates built with solid stones, as would be expected for the fortification of a city,” the study reads.

Tell en-Naṣbeh, also a half-day’s walk from Jerusalem, was excavated between 1926 and 1935.

‘A photograph of [Beth Shemesh] it represents two casemates built with solid stones, as one would expect from the fortification of a city”, reads the study.

Beth Shemesh is located in northern Shephelah, about a day’s walk from Jerusalem, and was discovered in 1911.

The city was surrounded by a casemate wall, bordered by a belt of houses incorporating the casemates as hind rooms; at the other end, these houses opened onto a peripheral road.

Khirbet ed-Dawwara, excavated between 1985 and 1986, was found to have “a poorly preserved, short-lived site built on bedrock”.

It consisted of a single settlement phase with remains of four-room houses and a casemate fortification.

Tel Lachish is located in the south of Sefelahabout two days from Jerusalem.

Tell en-Naṣbeh, also a half-day’s walk from Jerusalem, was excavated between 1926 and 1935.

The city was surrounded by a casemate wall, bordered by a belt of houses incorporating the casemates as hind rooms; at the other end, these houses opened onto a peripheral road.

Seven different expeditions have extensively excavated the site from 1932 to today.

It was also discovered that the ancient city was surrounded by a wall.

Garfinkel determined the age of the five using olive pits found scattered in the ruins, which he did using carbon dating.

Carbon dating “is based on the fact that living organisms, such as trees, plants, people, and animals, absorb carbon-14 in their tissues,” according to the University of Chicago.

‘When they die, the carbon-14 starts to change into other atoms over time. Scientists can estimate how long the organism has been dead by counting the remaining carbon-14 atoms.

Although the cities were discovered separately, the archaeologist claimed that he was the first to connect the dots, determining that they are an organized urban network built around 1000 BC. In the photo, the ruins of Lachish.

Tel Lachish is located in southern Shefelah, approximately two days from Jerusalem.

Garfinkel also uncovered various proto-Canaanite and Canaanite inscriptions at some of the sites, indicating a greater demand for communication marking centralized authority and a strong kingdom, he claimed.

Fellow archaeologists are not convinced by Garfinkel’s claim.

Professor Aren Maeir, an archaeologist at Bar Ilan University, told The Times of Israel: “I think it is an oversimplification and it is flattening the details.”

There are many small details that I disagree with, and there are generalizations over a wide period that are problematic.

“It’s like when a fisherman tells you what kind of fish he caught and with each story, his arms get wider and wider.

‘Is it a sardine, a mackerel or a blue whale? If you read the biblical text and take it literally, then it’s a blue whale.

“I think there was probably a small kingdom in Jerusalem, but we don’t know how influential this kingdom was.”