The Stepped-Stone Structure
The Stepped-Stone Structure was built to support a section of the Jebusite fort in the Late Bronze Age. King David lived in the fort while Hiram's masons and carpenters finished building his house. Eilat Mazar has uncovered a Large-Stone Structure in the city of David that was, in part, supported by the Stepped-Stone Structure.
THE LOCATION OF KING DAVID’S PALACE
Jebus (Jerusalem) was a small city (12 acres) protected on all sides by massive stone walls. For years the children of Judah and the children of Benjamin co-existed with the inhabitants there because they could not drive them out (Joshua 15: 63 - Judges 1: 21). After David was annointed king, he went to Jerusalem and, finally, took it from the Jebusites. II Samuel 5: 7 says, "Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the City of David." It appears that while some of David's men besieged the northern wall , another group of men, led by Joab, made their way through the water system and were able to attack from within the city. David lived in the fort and built "round about" (II Samuel 5: 9 and I Chronicles 11: 8). II Samuel 5: 11 says, "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house." When David's house was finished, he prepared a place for the Ark of God and pitched a tent for it on a high place in the City of David (I Chronicles 15: 1). The House of David king of Israel is mentioned as being in the city of David in II Chronicles 8: 11 - "And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, my wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come."
Professor R. A. Macalister and Rev. J.G. Duncan were the first to excavate this area in 1923-25. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_title.pl?callnum=DS111.A1P28_vol4_cop1 They found evidence of occupation during the Bronze Age at the northern end of the stronghold including what may be an olive oil production center located at the top of the Stepped-Stone Structure. In the northeastern area of the city, above the Stepped-Stone Structure, is a group of depressions hewn in the sloping bedrock. Eighteen cavities, oval in shape, measuring about one foot across and two feet long are spread in a fan-like arrangement over the surface. The average depth of the cuttings is about eight inches. In 1925, Professor Macalister suggested these cuttings were associated with olive oil production and described them as: "Probably one of the oldest relics of human occupation on the site." In oil production olives were placed in the cavities and either trodden by foot or crushed by a round stone. This first step yielded the purest quality oil. A secondary crushing occurred when the pulp was put in bags and squeezed in a press. Olive oil production dates from before the time of Abraham and Melchizedek. Moses spoke of the promised land of Israel as "...a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees,and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey..." (Deuteronomy 8: 7, 8). Near the olive oil production center, is a plastered storage bin for grain. Grain was used with the oil for ritual purposes in ancient times. Because of its combustive quality the oil was mixed with the grain for meal offerings (Ex. 29: 40; Num. 28: 5). The oil was also used for fuel for lamps in the Tabernacle (Ex. 27: 20; Lev.24: 2) because the refined oil burned cleanly. Solomon was anointed king from a horn of oil out of the Tabernacle (I Kings 1: 39). Professor Macalister also describes a primitive altar in the southeastern area of the hilltop above the Stepped-Stone Structure. "That this rock surface is an ancient cult-site is the most probable explanation that can be offered for it; it is perhaps the oldest cult-site in the Holy City. Situated, as it was, just inside the city limits at its highest point, it is a very probable situation for such a sanctuary." This location is also where David placed the Ark of the Covenant when he brought it to the City of David (I Chron. 15: 29). Tenth century olive oil production centers, dating from the tenth century, have also been excavated in Tel Dan and Samaria (BAR Nov./Dec. 1984, July/Aug. 2007). These installations were near or under royal palaces and associated with religious centers where priests could oversee the production and guarantee the quality of the oil.
Let us now consider the Palace. Dame Kenyon found the first hint to the location of the Palace in 1974. Down the hill, in the area north of the Stepped-Stone Structure, she found a beautiful Proto-Aeolic capital broken into two pieces among a tumble of Phoenician style ashlars. Kenyon dated the capital and ashlars to the time of David and Solomon. The royal quality of the find leads us to believe they must have come from the palace and had been thrown over the eastern wall by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Dr. Yigal Shiloh was the leading expert on Proto-Aeolic capitals and declared Kenyon’s capital to be "the finest of all the Proto-Aeolic capitals in this country." Capitals were also found at Hazor and Megiddo, dating to the time of King Solomon. During the dig, in 1984, Dr. Shiloh told Bud that David’s Palace would be found on top of the hill above the fallen capital and ashlars. Unfortunately, that area was off limits to him for digging in 1984. Dame Kenyon seemed of the opinion that David’s Palace had casemate walls on its eastern side which continued in a northeastern direction along the ridge of the Ophel hill. She was quite adamant about the wall: "There certainly was a wall here, along the eastern edge of Site H, of the casemate type of construction, consisting of an inner and outer wall joined by cross walls, that was common from the time of Solomon onwards." - Jerusalem, Excavating 3000 Years of History, 1967, p. 56 (with permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies). The casemate wall may have continued to the north along the ridge and connected to the four-chambered gate found by Benjamin and Eilat Mazar.
After the time of David and Solomon, royal buildings were built near the middle and base of the Stepped-Stone Structure as confirmed by numereous discoveries. In one of the service rooms of the “House of Ahiel,” sixteen storage jars were found bearing the royal rosette impression of the King of Judah. Fifty-one bullae (document seals), some containing the names of known Bible personalities, were discovered in the “House of the Bullae”. Because of these, Dr. Shiloh made the following conclusion in his 1984 Qedem #19: "The fact that the names do not overly repeat themselves, as would be expected in a private family archive, and the appearance of the name of a known official in the royal court (Jeremiah 36: 13), would indicate that this find may represent a public archive, located in some bureau close to the administrative centre in the City of David." Thus the Palace and administrative center were all located in the vicinity of the Stepped-Stone Structure.
The lack of more archaeological findings there from David's time can largely be explained by the state of preservation of the settlement strata from the time of the Monarchy. Jerusalem was inhabited continuously through thousands of years. Given that the bedrock at the site is very high and there is little accumulation of strata on top of it, every new settlement damaged the previous strata. Here is a perfect example of the Bible being key to the understanding of the archaeology of Jerusalem.
Jebus (Jerusalem) was a small city (12 acres) protected on all sides by massive stone walls. For years the children of Judah and the children of Benjamin co-existed with the inhabitants there because they could not drive them out (Joshua 15: 63 - Judges 1: 21). After David was annointed king, he went to Jerusalem and, finally, took it from the Jebusites. II Samuel 5: 7 says, "Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the City of David." It appears that while some of David's men besieged the northern wall , another group of men, led by Joab, made their way through the water system and were able to attack from within the city. David lived in the fort and built "round about" (II Samuel 5: 9 and I Chronicles 11: 8). II Samuel 5: 11 says, "And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house." When David's house was finished, he prepared a place for the Ark of God and pitched a tent for it on a high place in the City of David (I Chronicles 15: 1). The House of David king of Israel is mentioned as being in the city of David in II Chronicles 8: 11 - "And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, my wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come."
Professor R. A. Macalister and Rev. J.G. Duncan were the first to excavate this area in 1923-25. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_title.pl?callnum=DS111.A1P28_vol4_cop1 They found evidence of occupation during the Bronze Age at the northern end of the stronghold including what may be an olive oil production center located at the top of the Stepped-Stone Structure. In the northeastern area of the city, above the Stepped-Stone Structure, is a group of depressions hewn in the sloping bedrock. Eighteen cavities, oval in shape, measuring about one foot across and two feet long are spread in a fan-like arrangement over the surface. The average depth of the cuttings is about eight inches. In 1925, Professor Macalister suggested these cuttings were associated with olive oil production and described them as: "Probably one of the oldest relics of human occupation on the site." In oil production olives were placed in the cavities and either trodden by foot or crushed by a round stone. This first step yielded the purest quality oil. A secondary crushing occurred when the pulp was put in bags and squeezed in a press. Olive oil production dates from before the time of Abraham and Melchizedek. Moses spoke of the promised land of Israel as "...a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees,and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey..." (Deuteronomy 8: 7, 8). Near the olive oil production center, is a plastered storage bin for grain. Grain was used with the oil for ritual purposes in ancient times. Because of its combustive quality the oil was mixed with the grain for meal offerings (Ex. 29: 40; Num. 28: 5). The oil was also used for fuel for lamps in the Tabernacle (Ex. 27: 20; Lev.24: 2) because the refined oil burned cleanly. Solomon was anointed king from a horn of oil out of the Tabernacle (I Kings 1: 39). Professor Macalister also describes a primitive altar in the southeastern area of the hilltop above the Stepped-Stone Structure. "That this rock surface is an ancient cult-site is the most probable explanation that can be offered for it; it is perhaps the oldest cult-site in the Holy City. Situated, as it was, just inside the city limits at its highest point, it is a very probable situation for such a sanctuary." This location is also where David placed the Ark of the Covenant when he brought it to the City of David (I Chron. 15: 29). Tenth century olive oil production centers, dating from the tenth century, have also been excavated in Tel Dan and Samaria (BAR Nov./Dec. 1984, July/Aug. 2007). These installations were near or under royal palaces and associated with religious centers where priests could oversee the production and guarantee the quality of the oil.
Let us now consider the Palace. Dame Kenyon found the first hint to the location of the Palace in 1974. Down the hill, in the area north of the Stepped-Stone Structure, she found a beautiful Proto-Aeolic capital broken into two pieces among a tumble of Phoenician style ashlars. Kenyon dated the capital and ashlars to the time of David and Solomon. The royal quality of the find leads us to believe they must have come from the palace and had been thrown over the eastern wall by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Dr. Yigal Shiloh was the leading expert on Proto-Aeolic capitals and declared Kenyon’s capital to be "the finest of all the Proto-Aeolic capitals in this country." Capitals were also found at Hazor and Megiddo, dating to the time of King Solomon. During the dig, in 1984, Dr. Shiloh told Bud that David’s Palace would be found on top of the hill above the fallen capital and ashlars. Unfortunately, that area was off limits to him for digging in 1984. Dame Kenyon seemed of the opinion that David’s Palace had casemate walls on its eastern side which continued in a northeastern direction along the ridge of the Ophel hill. She was quite adamant about the wall: "There certainly was a wall here, along the eastern edge of Site H, of the casemate type of construction, consisting of an inner and outer wall joined by cross walls, that was common from the time of Solomon onwards." - Jerusalem, Excavating 3000 Years of History, 1967, p. 56 (with permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies). The casemate wall may have continued to the north along the ridge and connected to the four-chambered gate found by Benjamin and Eilat Mazar.
After the time of David and Solomon, royal buildings were built near the middle and base of the Stepped-Stone Structure as confirmed by numereous discoveries. In one of the service rooms of the “House of Ahiel,” sixteen storage jars were found bearing the royal rosette impression of the King of Judah. Fifty-one bullae (document seals), some containing the names of known Bible personalities, were discovered in the “House of the Bullae”. Because of these, Dr. Shiloh made the following conclusion in his 1984 Qedem #19: "The fact that the names do not overly repeat themselves, as would be expected in a private family archive, and the appearance of the name of a known official in the royal court (Jeremiah 36: 13), would indicate that this find may represent a public archive, located in some bureau close to the administrative centre in the City of David." Thus the Palace and administrative center were all located in the vicinity of the Stepped-Stone Structure.
The lack of more archaeological findings there from David's time can largely be explained by the state of preservation of the settlement strata from the time of the Monarchy. Jerusalem was inhabited continuously through thousands of years. Given that the bedrock at the site is very high and there is little accumulation of strata on top of it, every new settlement damaged the previous strata. Here is a perfect example of the Bible being key to the understanding of the archaeology of Jerusalem.
Proto Aeolic capital
This capital was found by Kathleen Kenyon among a tumble of large ashlars in her site XXIV, which is just north and east of the Stepped-Stone Structure. It had fallen from an important building on top of the ridge and dates to the time of Solomon.
Kenyon's Site XXIV
This is the last photograph of the tumble of large ashlars near which Kathleen Kenyon found the Proto-Aeolic capital. Taken in 1984, the photo clearly shows the phoenician ashlars behind the rebar in the center-right.
Reconstructed gate from Hazor
This gate from Hazor was used to enter an important building in Solomon's time. Notice the Proto Aeolic capitals and ashlars like those found in Jerusalem, Megiddo and Gezer.
Macalister and Duncan's drawing
Prof. R.A.S. Macalister and Rev. J.G. Duncan first excaved the area above the Stepped-Stone Structure in 1923 (see link). This crude drawing shows their interpretation of what was encountered. The north wall runs across the top of the drawing and is dated to the Jebusite period. They identfy the remains of a structure in the upper right hand corner as dating from King Solomon's time. This also happens to be the precise location of the area being excavated by Eilat Mazar which she claims is the site of David's palace.
