NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS ON MOUNT ZION IN JERUSALEM

The area chosen for archaeological study is situated close to a number of important places in the history of the city, namely the Praetorium where Jesus was tried before Pontius Pilate, and the House of Caiaphas and the other priestly families in the Upper City of Jerusalem in the first century CE. In the Byzantine period, the area was situated at the southern end of the Cardo Maximus, which was a grand columned street and in its vicinity Justinian (mid 6th century) built a very large church. The crest of Mount Zion was a focus for the building of houses in the Early Islamic Period. The Crusaders and the Ayyubids built their fortifications across the crest of the hill, and in the early 13th century, the local Sultan destroyed the gate-tower, which was located in the area of our excavation.

In the 2009 season, remarkable architectural finds were madeas well as unique small finds, such as a ten-line inscription on the side of astone cup commonly used for ritual purity during the first century CE.Inscriptions of this kind are extremely rare and only a handful has been found in scientific excavations made within the city. This new inscription ispresently being deciphered by epigraphic experts in an effort to determine themeaning of the text, which is clear but cryptic. The dig also produced asequence of building remains dating from the history of Jerusalem, from theFirst and Second Temple periods through to Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.