Early this month, several prominent Israeli archaeologists were brought to inspect the site. Among them was Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeology professor from Hebrew University.So according to Professor Garfinkel the architecture dates to the late Iron Age II but, contrary to the earlier reports, not to the Davidic or Solomonic eras. And it has parallels to the Siloam Tunnel. Wouldn't it be nice if it also had a dedication inscription in Hebrew, like the Siloam Tunnel?
There is no doubt the remains are those of monumental construction from the time of the First Temple, Garfinkel said.
The top of the pillar, known as a capital, is of a type known as proto-aeolic, he said. That style dates to around 2,800 years ago.
Another view of the recently discovered pillar (Courtesy of Binyamin Tropper/Kfar Etzion Field School)
Another view of the recently discovered pillar (Courtesy of Binyamin Tropper/Kfar Etzion Field School)
The pillar marks the entrance to a carved water tunnel reaching 250 yards underground, he said, complex construction that would almost certainly have been carried out by a central government. At the time, the area was ruled by Judean kings in nearby Jerusalem.
In its scale and workmanship, Garfinkel said, the tunnel evokes another grand water project of First Temple times — the Siloam Tunnel in Jerusalem, now underneath the modern-day Arab neighborhood of Silwan. That project is believed to have been undertaken by the biblical king Hezekiah to channel water into the city ahead of an Assyrian siege in the 8th century BCE, according to an account in the biblical Book of Kings.
The existence of a large water tunnel at the new site suggests the presence nearby of a large farm or palace, Garfinkel said.
“The construction is first-rate,” he said. “There is definitely something important there from biblical times, the 9th or 8th centuries BCE.”
(HT Dorothy Lobel King.)