Re-excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology is concerned with the archaeology and history of Jerusalem. It is a story of ongoing crises, of adaptations, inheritance and cultural transmission over many centuries under successive rulers, where each generation owed a cultural debt to its predecessors, from the Bronze Age to the modern world. It is not a summary history of occupation over four millennia, but rather a reflection of events as revealed in a major programme of archaeological excavation conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s, which is still in process of publication. The exca ... More

Re-excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology is concerned with the archaeology and history of Jerusalem. It is a story of ongoing crises, of adaptations, inheritance and cultural transmission over many centuries under successive rulers, where each generation owed a cultural debt to its predecessors, from the Bronze Age to the modern world. It is not a summary history of occupation over four millennia, but rather a reflection of events as revealed in a major programme of archaeological excavation conducted by Dame Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s, which is still in process of publication. The excavation archive has an ongoing relevance, even though knowledge of the city and its inhabitants has increased over the decades since then, revealing fresh insights to set against contemporary work. The preservation of such archives has great importance for future historians. Among topics addressed are the nature of a dispersed settlement pattern in the 2nd millennium BC; a fresh look at the vexed problems of the biblical accounts of the work of David and Solomon and the development of the city in the 10th and 9th centuries BC; the nature of the fortifications of the town re-established by Nehemiah in the 5th century BC; some evidence of the Roman occupation following the almost total destruction of the city in AD 70; and an exploration within the Islamic city during the 12th to 15th centuries. The latter illustrates the endless interest in Jerusalem shown by the outside world.