Archaeologists have uncovered wooden beams that were burned during the destruction of Jerusalem’s First Temple in 586 BCE. The discovery was made during recent excavations at Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David by Israel’s Antiquities Authority (IAA).
According to the IAA, the preserved wood was found at the Givati Parking Lot and is believed to have formed part of an inner courtyard’s roofing. Researchers state that plaster covering the building’s walls melted during the intense fire, coated the charred wood, and helped preserve it for approximately 2,600 years.
Dr. Johanna Regev, a researcher with the IAA studying the beams, noted: “It is very rare in Israel to find wood with such a large number of growth rings. Here in the City of David, we found thick beams with many rings, offering significant research potential. More growth rings enable higher dating resolution.”
“Until now, we could date finds within a range of hundreds of years,” she explained. “Now, we can attain much greater precision, narrowing the dating range down to as little as 10 years.”
The IAA added that Jerusalem’s returning residents, as they began rebuilding the city, likely made a deliberate choice to preserve the memory of the destruction by leaving behind remains that tell the story of the catastrophe.
“The concept of a landscape of memory is familiar from many cultures around the world,” said Dr. Yiftah Shalev, who is directing the excavation on behalf of the IAA alongside Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University. “Preserving memory is a human need, seeking to preserve what once existed.”
“Here we see it in its clearest form — a deliberate choice to leave ruins in place as a testament to the destruction and build the new layer over them,” Shalev added.
The annual Tisha B’Av fast, considered the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, commemorates the destruction of Jerusalem’s First and Second Temples on the same day centuries apart — with the First Temple destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. The day also marks a number of other historic calamities that have befallen the Jewish people.
