Jerusalem 2004 Overview

1923-25 Palestine Exploration Fund Excavations
at the City of David, Jerusalem, Israel
Garth H.Gilmour

This grant will be for publication of the final report on the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.) excavations from 1923 to 1925 in the City of David, Jerusalem, led by Professor R.A.S. Macalister assisted by Rev. J.G. Duncan.

The project will present for the first time all the information from the P.E.F. excavation of this critical area of Jerusalem. The resulting publication will make a significant contribution to the debate about Jerusalem's size and chronology in the biblical period, with particular relevance to the current controversy between the biblical minimalists and low chronologists on the one hand, and those supporting the traditional dating on the other. It will also serve as a necessary complement to publications of subsequent excavations in the same area by K. Kenyon and Y. Shiloh. The City of David, the site of ancient Jerusalem, lies to the south of the present Old City on a narrow spur of land extending from the south wall of the Temple Mount in the north to the Siloam Pool in the south. The area excavated by the P.E.F. is toward the north end of the east slope, in and around the location now commonly referred to as `Area G'. Finds dating from the Chalcolithic to the Hellenistic periods, including a stepped stone structure, several towers, a possible Middle Bronze Age city gate and an early Iron Age fortress, as well as a large number of artifacts, were uncovered in the excavation.

The results of the P.E.F. excavations were published in the Annual of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Volume IV, 1926. A fresh report will be prepared containing a reevaluation of the excavation's archive held by the P.E.F. in London. The resulting publication will include a catalogue, descriptions, drawings and photographs of the artifacts, an analysis of their findspots and their relationships to excavated features, and an analysis of the architecture and features at the top of the east slope of the City of David. The relevance of subsequent excavations in the same area, including those directed by Kathleen Kenyon and Yigal Shiloh, will also be considered.

A monograph containing a catalogue of artifacts, revised plans, and descriptions of the site and its significance will be prepared for publication by the Palestine Exploration Fund. It is expected that the monograph will be ready for review and publication within eighteen months to two years of the start of the grant.