“And the great court round about had three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams, like as the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the court of the porch of the house.” (1Kings 7:12)

Excavations being conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have begun to uncover a Hasmonean-era (second century BCE) structure. The impressive structure, about 4 meters (13 feet) high and covering an area of some 64 square meters (690 square feet), is located in the Givati parking lot, in the City of David and the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park. The excavations are sponsored by the Friends of City of David.

Historian Josephus described the city of Jerusalem in Hasmonean times, but this is the first building from the time to be unearthed. The Hanukkah holiday, which this year coincided with American Thanksgiving and lasts eight days (from the evening of November 23 till sunset, December 5), celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over their Greek oppressors and the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty in Israel.

Among the characteristics of the building, the walls, more than a meter thick, consist of rough-hewn limestone blocks arranged in an alternating pattern of bricks laid length-wise and widthwise (headers and stretchers), an arrangement typical of the period.

Along with pottery, coins were found, which particularly interested archeologists. These indicated the structure was erected in the early second century BCE and continued into the Hasmonean period, during which time significant changes were made inside it.

According to Dr. Doron Ben Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, the excavation directors on behalf to the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The importance of this discovery is primarily because of the conspicuous paucity of buildings from the Hasmonean city of Jerusalem in archaeological research, despite the many excavations that have been conducted to date.

“Apart from several remains of the city’s fortifications that were discovered in different parts of Jerusalem, as well as pottery and other small finds, none of the Hasmonean city’s buildings have been uncovered so far, and this discovery bridges a certain gap in Jerusalem’s settlement sequence.

“The Hasmonean city, which is well-known to us from the historical descriptions that appear in the works of Josephus, has suddenly acquired tangible expression.”