by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A major new scientific study shows that Jerusalem in the time of the Biblical Kings David and Solomon was a large urban area, not a small town or village some historians have suggested.
Published in the journal PNAS, the study was conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, Crosswalk reports. Notably, the study used science “in order to link events mentioned in the Bible to archaeological findings unearthed in the city of David.”
In a press release about the study, the IAA said: “The new research sheds light on one of the longstanding and controversial research questions regarding the nature and scope of Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon and thereafter: the findings from the new research indicate that there was a widespread settlement in Jerusalem during this period.” .
The researchers studied organic materials such as grape seeds, date pits, and bat skeletons in the City of David in order to accurately date many of their findings, Crosswalk reports.
In particular, the researchers used ancient tree rings from Europe to “create a precise timeline of single-year dates,” from which it is “possible to accurately learn about fluctuations in the percentage of carbon-14 in the atmosphere,” the IAA said. “It helped to scientifically reconstruct for the first time the history of Jerusalem from 1200 BCE — before the days of David and Solomon according to the biblical description — to the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE,” the IAA added.
Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University added in a statement: “Until now, most researchers have linked Jerusalem’s growth to the west, to the period of King Hezekiah – just over 2700 years ago. The conventional assumption to date has been that the city expanded due to the arrival of refugees from the Kingdom of Israel in the north, following the Assyrian exile. However, the new findings strengthen the view that Jerusalem grew in size and spread towards Mount Zion already in the 9th century BCE, during the reign of King Jehoash, a hundred years before the Assyrian exile. In light of this, the new research teaches that the expansion of Jerusalem is a result of internal-Judean demographic growth and the establishment of political and economic systems.”
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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