Dating is often difficult, but about 80% of the reports offered at least approximate periods, indicating quarrying from Iron Age II through the Second Temple, Roman, and Byzantine eras into the Early Islamic period, with evidence for reuse and multi-period activity at some sites.As the JP article notes, the underlying article is open access in the current issue of the peer-review journal Heritage.
The Lithic Journey of Jerusalem Stone: New Evidence of Ancient QuarriesI have noted reports on ancient quarries in the vicinity of Jerusalem here and many links, here, here and links, and here.by Adi Sela Wiener 1,2, Laura Medeghini and Gabriele Favero
1 Master’s Program in Urban Design, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, 1 Zmora Street, Jerusalem 9515701, Israel
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
3 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.Heritage 2025, 8(11), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8110490
Submission received: 4 September 2025 / Revised: 31 October 2025 / Accepted: 10 November 2025 / Published: 19 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preservation of Cultural Heritage: The Nexus of Diagnosis-Prevention-Sustainability)
Abstract
Jerusalem’s prominent building material of limestone and dolostone, which is commonly known as “Jerusalem stone”, characterizes the city’s architecture and built environment. The distinctive stone was quarried from the Jerusalem landscape, prepared as building stone, and transported to building sites, a process referred to in this paper as the “lithic journey”. While these ancient quarries have been identified in previous studies, new evidence identifies the characteristics and the spatial distribution of these quarries and the connections between them. This study examined over one hundred archeological reports resulting from mainly salvage excavations conducted in the last decade (2012–2024), which has enabled the creation of updated mapping. Data collected from the Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI), are included in a database that classifies quarry types, building material provenance, and specific characteristics of the ancient quarries that supplied Jerusalem’s building stones. The resulting expanded dataset of this open-access, online resource broadens our understanding of the quarry landscape and the continuous use of stone in the city’s building culture, while also offering an understanding of Jerusalem’s urban development and the design of Jerusalem’s cityscape from antiquity to the present day, as well as contribute to the city’s heritage management.
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