Shalom and welcome back to 'Israel with Aline'! I'm super excited for today Because we are going to join the archeological excavations here in the City of David So you are going to see first hand the new excavations and see how is a day of an archeologist So, If you are ready, let's go! We arrived at the Hanion Givati that means the Givati Parking lot Why?
Because this place was until 2003 the parking lot of the old city of Jerusalem and when they decided to do renovation work here they started to excavate, and discovered this amazing place the excavation dig one bucket at the time, and aleready dig up 12 meters deep (39 feet) the newer findings is this area right here that is a market from the early muslim period that means that it is 1200 years old they found many things in this market, among them eggplants and public bathrooms and every thing you except to find in a bathroom, was also found here And the oldest things found here they are 3000 years old, and they belong to the First Temple Period. Let's go down and discover together the Hanion Givati what was the Gavati Parking lot Let's go! This was a VERY luxurious house from the Roman and Byzantine period and many amazing thing where found here among them, was found in this area here a treasure with more than 260 gold coins and who found this treasure was a volunteer Yes, here in the city of David they accept volunteers to join in the archeological excavations We continue here in the archeological excavations, and we arrived at the oldest area, from the time of the First Temple of Jerusalem and this house have more than 2500 years we are entering the house and we are going to see that it is burnt Why?
Because in the year 586 B. C. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians invade and burn Jerusalem to the ground and the remains from this fire and destruction we can see in this house.
Look what else was found in this house we can see here the burned wood from 2600 years ago, by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians when the invade Jerusalem. And look here the amount of ceramic that was found here and also the handles from the ceramic jars Look how amazing this findings How the excavations work? It's like an ants work We have a pick, and we use it to make the ground more 'loose' We use the brush to clean the area and we take the material and put in the buckets one of them is for dirt and stones and another bucket is for the ceramic and archeological findings.
Sorry for the noise But I wanted to show you what is happening here behind me They are adding huge metal bars inside the wall, to hold the street above us Because we are literally excavating a huge hole in the city, so the bars hold the city above us. So is not only a huge archeological project, but is also a huge project of engineering. We are going now to the 'Parker Zone' in the archeological excavations But I wanted to show you that are houses here there is people still living inside the city of David.
The excavations happen here all year around But even more in this time, on Summer because this time of year there is no rain. But because of that we joined the excavations in a day that is almost 40 C degrees. (104 F) This is one of the most important places in the City of David It's not open to the public yet And we don't know when it will open.
If we go here to the back, we will see something like a higher place This is an altar, When they used to perform sacrifices. And there is more, let's go here to the side. Protected behind this glass is a 'standing' stone, why it's protected?
Because the stone used to represent God. This used to be a Temple But how come we have a temple in Jerusalem? We now that THE Jewish Temple was in the Temple Mount Were today stands the Dome of the Rock.
So what exactly is this place? So we don't know yet all the details about this place And look here in the floor this triangles What they are? This no one knows.
There are things in the City of David that are being discovered that we still don't understand. But we now that this place used to be a Temple here in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period but was agains the rules of the Bible and the Old Testament and because of that it will be destroyed in the time of King Hezekiah. ( II Kings 18: 4-5) In one month will start Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The holiest day in Jewish calender And in this day during the Temple period the High Priest entered the Temple of Jerusalem and entered the 'Holy of Holies' to pray and ask for the atonement of sins for all the people of Israel. But if the High Priest was not "100% pure" we would enter and die die on the spot And now no one can enter the Holy of Holies to take him out So before he entered they use to tie a rope on his foot and there where bells made of gold in his clothes And when he prayed we could hear the bells and if was quiet for too long, they knew that they could pull him from the foot. and you know what was found here in the City of David?
very close to the place where stood the Temple of Jerusalem they found one of the original bell of the clothes of the High Priest This one is a replica we brought to show you. The original is saved. But look how impressive is the City of David, we can connect the archeological findings with the Biblical history that we know.
