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A Bulla (seal) bearing a Hebrew name from 2,600 years ago was uncovered from dirt excavated in 2013 beneath Robinson's Arch at the foundations of the Western Wall. The seal is inscribed with the name of an individual with the most prominent role in the king's court in the kingdom of Judea. The Bulla (seal), which was used to sign documents, bears the Hebrew name and title: "Adenyahu Asher Al Habayit" which literally translates as “Adenyahu by Appointment of the House”- a term used throughout the Bible to describe the most senior minister serving under a kings of Judea or...

This, along with the cave's apparent connection to a structure dated to the First Temple period (10th to 6th centuries BCE) above it which featured water channels for directing water into the cave, told the archaeologists that they were actually exploring what was originally an ancient water cistern. Given the location, the water cistern, not an atypical feature of ancient Jerusalem during the centuries when Jerusalem was ruled by Israelite and Judahite kings before Babylonian captivity in 586 BC, may have been used by Jerusalem's royalty for collecting and storing water... Excavators found that the Herodian Period walls related to...

The discovery of a new ritual pool [mikveh] under the Western Wall suggests a new theory that the Kotel was completed years later than during the reign of King Herod, as was believed until now. Israel Antiquities Authority excavations of an ancient drainage channel underneath the main street used by pilgrims 2,000 years ago revealed the ritual pool. The excavations beneath the paved road exposed sections of the Western Wall foundations. Dr. Donald Ariel, a native of the United States, said the coins that were discovered in the area were struck by the Roman procurator in the years 17-18 in...

Archaeologists have discovered a rare gold bell with a small loop at its end. The finding was made during an archaeological excavation in the City of David National Park (near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem) by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, said after the finding, “The bell looked as if it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority...

The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in Israel Antiquities Authority excavations beneath Robinson's Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations. According to Eli Shukron, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "the name Matanyahu, like the name Netanyahu, means giving to God. These names are mentioned several times in the...

Artifacts from King David's Time Confirm Bible By Julie Stahl CBN News Mideast Correspondent Friday, May 11, 2012 JERUSALEM, Israel -- Was the Bible's King David man or myth? That's the question Israeli archeologists are answering with new archeological finds. Their discoveries also shed light on how the first Jewish temple was built. Khirbet Qeiyafa is in the Elah Valley. Not far from here the Bible says David killed the giant, Goliath. "We don't know much about the history, the politics really and about urbanization in the time of David," archaeologist Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at...

Archaeologists announced Thursday that they had found the first historical evidence verifying the fear and terror imposed on Jews during the period of the destruction of the Second Temple by both Roman soldiers and extremist Jewish rebels. The evidence consists of three small pots that had been used for food, discovered inside an underground water channel. The discovery was made near the Kotel, in a dig being conducted at Robinson's Arch. Archaeological Authority workers discovered three clay pots and a candleholder. According to dig leader Eli Shukrun, the find indicates that a family had been taking shelter in the underground...

As Jordanian engineers began tests on a two-year-old bulge on the southern wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount this week, a side section of the mount's western wall that shows signs of dampness has begun to protrude as well. The latest swelling of the 2,000-year-old supporting wall is on its western side, to the right of the area where Jewish worshipers visit. The 10-meter bulge, which can be seen just to the right of the Mugrabi Gate and to the left of Robinson's Arch, in the archeological garden which abuts the Western Wall prayer area, lies directly underneath a small garden...