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.