Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan | The Levantine Ceramics Project

Site: Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Site Information

Site name (primary, secondary):

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

Country/region:

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands

Alternate names & spellings:

'Ir David

Coordinates (N,E):

31.772695758 , 35.2355992035

Periods attested by vessels on the LCP:

Middle Bronze Age II, Iron Age IIA, Iron Age IIB, Iron Age IIC, Neo-Babylonian Period, Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic, Early Hellenistic, Middle Hellenistic, Late Hellenistic, Early Roman, Roman, Late Roman, Byzantine, Early modern/modern

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Site Description

The City of David is a long natural spur running southward from the Temple Mount, bounded on the east by the Kidron Valley, on the south by the Hinnom Valley, and on the west by the Central (Tyropaean) Valley. The flattened area at the north end, immediately south of the Temple Mount, is known as the Ophel. The Givati Parking Lot is located on the northwestern slope. The Gihon Spring is located about a quarter of a kilometer south of the Ophel.

Geology: Within the area of Jerusalem is a tectonic fault zone between two ridges in the Central Judean Mountains, from east to west. Geological bases within the area of the City of David include limestone, dolomite and chalk. The calcareous rock formations create Rendzina and Terra Rosa soils, which form the basis of clays suitable to pottery production (Ben-Shlomo and Mommsen 2017: 352). Contributor: Chaundra Anderson, June 2nd 2021

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Related Images

Jerusalem, City of David, aerial view looking north

Jerusalem, City of David, overlay with excavation areas, looking north

Vessels 938

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CoD E. Mazar L:2066 B:21888

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Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Iron Age IIC

Jerusalem CoD JP_L.173_B.4980/6

Cooking ware jug

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Hellenistic, Early Roman

Jerusalem CoD JP_L.173_B.4846/1

Bowl

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Hellenistic, Early Roman

Jerusalem CoD JP_L.173_B.4986/4

Bowl

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Hellenistic, Early Roman

Break Photos 107

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Ophel 12 L.522 B12-5276-1

Table Amphora

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Roman, Byzantine

Ophel 13 L.13-067 13-1362-6

Bowl

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Roman, Byzantine

Ophel 13 L.13-067 B13-1425-5

Bowl, large

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Roman, Byzantine

Ophel 13 L.13-067 B13-1431-1

Transport amphora

Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Late Roman, Byzantine

Petrographic Samples 562

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COD EM 041
CoD E. Mazar L:2066 B:21888
Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Iron Age IIC

Magnification:
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Polarized Light?
XPL

COD EM 037
CoD E.Mazar L:2041 B:21251
Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

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Iron Age IIC

Magnification:
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Polarized Light?
XPL

Givati L8279-B82978-2
Givati L8279-B82978-2
Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

332-198 BCE

Early Hellenistic

Magnification:
200x

Polarized Light?
XPL

Givati L8260-B82708
Givati L8260-B82708
Jerusalem, City of David/Ophel/Silwan

332-198 BCE

Early Hellenistic

Magnification:
50x

Polarized Light?
XPL

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Site/Project URLs and Database Links

Site/Project URLs

Archaeological Excavations in the Givati Parking Lot (https://cityofdavid.org.il/en/archaeological-excavations-in-the-givati-parking-lot-eng/)

Database Links

OpenStreetMaps (https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/714055238/5e25d95e8-5d35d55d3)

Pleiades (https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/714055238/?searchterm=jerusalem%20city%20of%20david*)

Associated Wares/Ware Families/Style

Ware name:

Date:

Period:

Southern Levantine MBA-Iron Age cooking ware

c. 1800 - 500 BCE

Middle Bronze Age II, Middle Bronze Age III, Late Bronze Age, Iron Age

Eastern Shephelah/Central Hills Plain Ware

c. 1400 BCE - 37 BCE

Late Bronze Age III, Iron Age, Achaemenid Persian, Early Hellenistic, Middle Hellenistic, Late Hellenistic

Late Philistine Decorated Ware (Ashdod Ware)

1000 BCE - 586 BCE

Iron Age II

Western Asia Minor Black Slip wares (WAM)

6th-1st c. BCE

Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic, Late Hellenistic/Early Roman I

Phoenician Semi-Fine ware

6th century BCE - 1st century CE

Iron Age III/Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic, Early Roman

Judean Hellenistic Lime-Flecked Cooking Ware

5th-2nd c. BCE

Achaemenid Persian, Early Hellenistic, Middle Hellenistic

Shephelah/Central Hills Persian-Hellenistic cooking ware

5th-2nd BCE

Achaemenid Persian, Early Hellenistic

Classical-Hellenistic Atticizing wares

450-200 BCE

Classical, Hellenistic

Anatolian/Levantine West Slope-style wares

4th century BCE - 2st century BCE

Hellenistic, Hellenistic I

Cilician Hellenistic Slipped Fine Ware

300-150 BCE

Early Hellenistic, Middle Hellenistic

Idumean Hellenistic chalk-flecked cooking ware

3rd - 2nd c. BCE

Hellenistic

Idumean Hellenistic Slipped Fine Ware

3rd-2nd c. BCE

Early Hellenistic, Middle Hellenistic

Southern Phoenician Hellenistic Red Slipped Ware

3rd -2nd centuries BCE

Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic

Eastern Sigillata D (ESD)/Cypriot Sigillata

1st century BCE - 1st century CE

Roman

Judean Hellenistic-Early Roman Thin-Walled Ware

1st c. BCE-1st c. CE

Late Hellenistic, Early Roman

Judean Late Hellenistic-early Roman Compact Cooking Ware

1st c. BCE-1st c. CE

Late Hellenistic-Early Roman, Early Roman

Judaean Early Roman Painted Ware (JPW)

1st c. CE

Early Roman

Late Roman Amphora 1 (LRA 1)

4th - 8th centuries CE

Late Roman, Early Byzantine, Byzantine, Late Roman

Fine Byzantine Ware (FBW)/Fine Palestinian Ware (FPW)

mid 6th - 10th centuries CE

Byzantine, Early Islamic - Umayyad/Abbasid/Fatimid

Armenian Painted Ware/Jerusalem

early 20th century to present

Early modern/modern

Associated Petro-fabrics

Aegean/Micaceous/quartz, iron, metamorphic rock

Egypt/Nile Clay

Israel/Central Coastal Plain/calcareous clay/quartz and tuff

Israel/Central Coastal Plain/red loamy soil/Hamra

Israel/Jordan/Lebanon/Highlands/ferruginous clay/calcareous sand quartz silt and sand/dolomite silt (Terra Rossa)

Israel/Lebanon/Paleogene foraminiferous/Taqiye marl

Israel/Negev coastal loess

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Calcareous/foraminiferous rendzina soil on Upper Cretaceous formations

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands/Moza clay

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands/Moza clay/Aminadav sand-sized dolomite crystals

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Central Highlands/Moza marl/silt-size dolomite crystals

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Galilee, Jezreel Valley, Central Highlands, Shephelah/calcareous/foraminiferous/rendzina soil

Israel-Palestinian Authority/Southern Coast/alluvial clay/rounded sand and angular silt quartz

Israel/Shephelah/alluvial clay/calcareous sand quartz silt

Israel/Shephelah/ferruginous clay/calcareous sand quartz silt

Israel/Western Galilee/Lower Cretaceous/ferruginous ooliths and silty ferruginous matrix

Lebanon/Southern Coast/Neogene Marl/Quartz Inclusions and Marine Biogenic Debris

Northern Levantine-Cypriot Ophiolitic

Turkey/Southern Lydia/metamorphic/schist and mica

Associated Kilns/Workshops

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Bibliography

Shalev, Y., Shalom, N., Bocher, E. and Gadot, Y.. "New Evidence on the Location and Nature of Iron Age, Persian and Early Hellenistic Period Jerusalem" Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 47:2 (2020), 149–172
Ben-Ami. Jerusalem: Excavations in the Tyropoeon Valley (Givati Parking Lot) . IAA Reports 52 Volume II. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2013
Shukron, E. and Reich, R. "Jerusalem, The City of David, the Givati Car-Park" Hadashot Arkheologiyot 117 (2005)
Crowfoot, J.W. and Fitzgerald. Excavations in the Tyropoeon Valley, Jerusalem. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society London: Palestine Exploration Fund (Annual 5), 1929
Shukron, E. and Reich, R. "Jerusalem, The City of David, the Givati Car-Park" Hadashot Arkheologiyot 117 (2005)
Crowfoot, J.W.. "Ophel Again" PEQ 77 (1945), 66–109
Kenyon, K.M. "Excavations on Jerusalem 1963" PEQ 96 (1964), 7–18
Kenyon, K.M. " Excavations on Jerusalem 1964" PEQ 97 (1965), 9–20
Kenyon, K.M. "Excavations on Jerusalem 1965" PEQ 97 (1966), 73–88
David Ben-Shlomo. The Iron Age Pottery of Jerusalem: A Typological and Technological Study. Ariel University Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series No. 2 Israel: Ariel University Press, 2019
Waiman-Barak, P. "Appendix I.3B: Petrographic Analysis of Selected Late Roman and Byzantine Vessels." in The Ophel Excavations to the South of the Temple Mount 2009–2013, Final Report (Vol. I, ed(s). E. Mazar. Jerusalem: Old City Press, 2015, 160-166
Freud, L.. "The Pottery of the Babylonian Stratum 9/10 at the Summit of the City of David" Tel Aviv 50 (2023), 231–262

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Discussion/Acknowledgements

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