C14 evidence for a larger Davidic Jerusalem?

RADIOCARBON DATING: Jerusalem in King David's Time Was Much Larger Than Previously Thought, Researchers Say. First large-scale radiocarbon study of Jerusalem casts doubt on the paradigm that David's capital was a small village. It already extended over a vast area more than 3,000 years ago (Ariel David, Haaretz).

A first-of-its-kind radiocarbon study of Jerusalem in the First Temple Period is now offering new insight into the city's history in biblical times. On one hand it brings tantalizing clues that the city was already an important urban center in David and Solomon's time and not an insignificant village, as scholars more skeptical of biblical historicity have long maintained .

On the other hand, the new radiocarbon data contradict the biblical text on who exactly built what and when in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period.

The underlying article in PNAS is online, but behind a subscription wall: Radiocarbon chronology of Iron Age Jerusalem reveals calibration offsets and architectural developments (Johanna Regev, Yuval Gadot, Joe Uziel, and Elisabetta Boaretto). You can read a Significance paragraph and the Abstract there. The Haaretz article is quite informative too.

The results sound interesting, especially regarding the dating of the city wall. Their bearing on the size of the city in David's time seems more controversial.

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