by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Israeli archaeologists excavating in Jerusalem’s City of David announced Sunday that they have uncovered a 3,000-year-old moat that dates back to the time when Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah under King Josiah, The Media Line reports. The discovery was made by researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University.
According to the researchers, the moat likely acted as a northern fortification line of the lower city, separating the king’s palace and residential areas in the south from the Temple Mount in the north, The Media Line reports.
“We know about ancient fortifications from the south, east, and west,” excavation director Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University told The Media Line. “But the north has always been an enigma.”
“Typically, when excavating, you assume you’ll eventually reach bedrock, which is where structures are built,” Gadot explained.
“The bedrock should appear higher on the summit and lower in the surrounding valley of the City of David. However, we never found the rock. So, we kept digging deeper and deeper and gradually realized we were working within a man-made gorge.”
“How could the city protect itself from the north, especially with the Temple Mount being higher than the ridge the city was built on? This has been a question everyone has asked for the past century while excavating Jerusalem. I believe we have resolved it by finding the moat,” Gadot said.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.
Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to at least 53 as Christians prayed for victims and rescuers struggled to reach isolated communities.
The U.S. Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Christianity and Western civilization this fall in the schools it operates for military families, while casting Islam as a threat to both.
New York’s Jewish community was reeling Sunday as a judge ordered a man held on bail after prosecutors said he admitted to disrupting Shabbat services at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue and assaulting two people there.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten faced mounting pressure Sunday after two people died in a traffic accident linked to a farmers’ protest, while his government was drawn into a separate controversy over a prominent statesman’s comparison involving Israel and Nazi Germany.
Amid mounting military cooperation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed deepening ties with Russia in a message to President Vladimir Putin as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of “independence from Japan’s colonial rule,” state media reported Sunday.