The Excavations Beneath Wilson’s Arch, Volume 1

Some 170 years have passed since the Swiss doctor Titus Tobler published the first scientific mention of a stone arch built over a large, plastered pool west of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was the arch that supported the path leading from the Old City market to the Chain Gate, one of the passages to the Temple Mount that, years later, scholars began to refer to as Wilson’s Arch. Early exploration focused on when it had been built, and it soon became clear that it was the last link in the chain of arches that bolstered the path leading to one of the main entrances to the holy compound of the Temple Mount/Haram aš-Šarīf, which for centuries had served as the religious center of the city of Jerusalem.

Wilson’s Arch has been one of the most debated architectural elements in Jerusalem’s landscape. Despite its importance for reconstructing the history of Jerusalem and particularly for understanding the entrances onto the Temple Mount, major excavations beneath the arch did not begin until 2015. Beneath Wilson’s Arch tells the story of the arch, of current and past excavations, of its amazing artifacts and subterranean chambers, of its place in the chronicles of Roman Jerusalem and the mysteries hidden in the Walls of the Temple Mount. Now, after years of full-scale scientific excavation, archaeologists Joe Uziel, Tehillah Lieberman and Avi Solomon reveal and analyze what has for so long been hidden in and beneath the ruins of this massive ancient structure.

“This report on recent excavations beneath Wilson’s Arch, which was part of a monumental bridge that provided access to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, sheds important new light on the development of ancient Jerusalem, particularly in the Herodian and Late Roman periods.”—Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“This significant work presents the most comprehensive and updated research—based on recent excavations led by the authors—offering unparalleled perspectives on the arch’s construction, historical significance, and the debates surrounding the chronology of Wilson’s Arch. With contributions from eminent scholars, it compiles an extraordinary array of findings, artifacts, and architectural remains, securing its place as a vital reference for anyone fascinated by Jerusalem’s captivating history and archaeology.”—Orit Peleg-Barkat, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Joe Uziel is the head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Avi Solomon is an archaeologist and researcher of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Tehillah Lieberman is an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

PREFACE

PART I: INTRODUCTION AND STRATIGRAPHY

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Joe Uziel, Tehillah Lieberman and Avi Solomon

CHAPTER 2 WILSON’S ARCH, THE BURAQ POOL AND THE WESTERN WALL: EXPLORATION AND DOCUMENTATION IN JERUSALEM IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

Shimon Gibson

CHAPTER 3 STRATIGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE

Joe Uziel, Tehillah Lieberman and Avi Solomon

INDEX OF LOCI AND WALLS 123

CHAPTER 4 THE SUPPLEMENTARY EXCAVATIONS, 2019–2020

Barak Monnickendam-Givon, Yasmin Szanto, and Tehillah Lieberman

INDEX OF LOCI

PART II: THE FINDS

CHAPTER 5 THE NUMISMATIC FINDS

Gabriela Bijovsky

CHAPTER 6 THE GLASS FINDS

Tamar Winter

CHAPTER 7 THE METAL FINDS

Baruch Yuzefovsky

CHAPTER 8 SMALL FINDS

Tehillah Lieberman and Joe Uziel

CHAPTER 9 IN GODS WE TRUST: A ZEUS-SERAPIS INTAGLIO

Rikki Zalut Har-Tuv and Guy D. Stiebel

CHAPTER 10 GAMING DICE

Tehillah Lieberman

CHAPTER 11 REMNANTS OF THEATER SEAT PLATES AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS

Ronny Reich

CHAPTER 12 STONE PROJECTILES

Kfir Arbiv

CHAPTER 13 RADIOCARBON DATING AND

MICROARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Johanna Regev and Elisabetta Boaretto

CHAPTER 14 SEALS AND SEALINGS

Noa Ranzer

CHAPTER 15 A HEBREW INSCRIPTION ENGRAVED ON A HANDLE AND TWO BULLAE

Daniel Vainstub

CHAPTER 16 A UNIQUE ICONOGRAPHIC BULLA

Daniel Vainstub

PART III: FLORA AND FAUNA

CHAPTER 17 ANIMAL REMAINS FROM LATE ROMAN STRATA

Lee Perry Gal

CHAPTER 18 THE LATE ROMAN ARCHAEOBOTANICAL REMAINS:

THE FOOD, FUEL AND FUMES OF AELIA CAPITOLINA

Suembikya Frumin and Ehud Weiss

CHAPTER 19 DENDROARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS:

CHARCOAL REMAINS

Mark Cavanagh and Dafna Langgut

PART IV: CONSERVATION

CHAPTER 20 FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION TO VISITORʼS

CENTER: PRESENTING WILSON’S ARCH AND THE

WESTERN WALL TUNNELS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

Shachar Puni

CHAPTER 21 CONSERVATION OF THE REMAINS BENEATH

WILSON’S ARCH

Yossi Vaknin

PART V: SUMMARY AND SYNTHESIS

CHAPTER 22 THE REMAINS BENEATH WILSON’S ARCH

Joe Uziel and Tehilla Lieberman

Download a PDF sample chapter here: Introduction