The Giv’ati Parking Lot is an archaeological site located inside the modern City of David neighborhood near the Old City of Jerusalem, what was once the western slope of the ancient City of David. The site is named so because it used to serve as a parking lot, where a terrorist attack occurred during a swearing-in ceremony for Giv’ati Brigade soldiers at the Western Wall in 1986. The area of the site covers some 80 square meters. It should be noted that some of the installations found at the site continue past the boundaries of the site, but at the moment there aren’t plans for expanding the excavation area to fully uncover them.
History of the Research of the Site
A small part of the site that would eventually become a parking lot was excavated by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon on behalf of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in the years 1963-1967. In 2003 a single season of excavation was conducted by Ronni Reich and Eli Shukron on behalf of the Israeli Antiquities Authority in an area southwest of Kenyon’s excavations, as part of a large-scale excavation project in Jerusalem which took place in the years 1995-2010. In 2007 a new, long-term salvage excavations project was launched at the site, during which excavations were expanded to cover the entirety of the parking lot’s area. In the years 2007-2016 the excavations were headed by Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets. Since 2017 excavations at the site have been headed by a joint expedition from Tel Aviv University and the Antiquities Authority, headed by Yuval Gadot and Yiftah Shalev.
The Site in the Iron Age
Settlement at the site began in the early stages of the Iron Age II period (9th or early 8th century BCE), reflected by a residential structure found at the site, as well as a series of mysterious hewn channels whose purpose is still unclear, but likely testify to some form of royal or temple-based industrial activity. These were the early days of the Kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. Activity at the site expanded near the end of the Iron IIB-IIC period (the end of the 7th-early 6th centuries BCE) with the construction of additional residential units and a large public building which probably served as a documentary archive or a rich mercantile storage facility. The building was divided into multiple rooms which might be considered ‘bureaus’. In the center of the western room stood large monolithic pillars which likely held up the base of the second floor of the building. Many bowls of varying sizes were found in the second room. The third room held multiple jars which were found to have contained a luxury product: Wine spiced with vanilla. Other findings from the building include: An agate seal with inscribed with the Hebrew words ‘to AKHR son of Matanyahu’, a bulla inscribed with the words ‘to Nathanmelekh servant [of] the King’, who may be identified with one of the ministers of King Josiah (2 Kings 23:11), and decorated ivory plates. Each of the three rooms was packed with great cave-ins of stone, ash and burnt wood which reveal that the building was destroyed during the Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem (586 BCE).
The Site in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods
A few remains from the Babylonian period may reflect small-scale activity in the area shortly after its destruction. Small-scale resettlement of the site began during the early Persian period (end of the 6th or beginning of the 5th century BCE). This settlement was centered around the area of the ruins, and is reflected in a few simple structures erected over of the Iron Age buildings. It seems likely that the settlers of the site during this period were also members of high socio-economic standing, a fact reflected in a rich, multispecies fishbone assemblage, including some which were imported, as well as a fragment of a ‘Bes Jar’ which was made in the vicinity of Jerusalem. This type of vessel is typical of the Persian period, especially in Egypt and the coastal plain of the Land of Israel.
It is unknown whether the site was active in the early Hellenistic period, but circa the end of the 3rd century BCE many new buildings were erected at the site. It seems evident that in this period, too, people of high socio-economic standing lived at the site, reflected in ashlar masonry and several gold pieces of jewelry discovered in this stratum. A fortified structure was found in the 2nd century BCE stratum, which some researchers have suggested identifying with the Seleucid Acra Fortress, but this interpretation is disputed. Settlement at the site continued uninterrupted until the Abbasid period (750-11 century CE).
Sources:
D. Ben-Ami and others, Jerusalem: Excavations in the Tyropoeon Valley (Giv’ati Parking Lot) I, Jerusalem 2013.
Y. Shalev and others, ‘New Discoveries from the Giv’ati Parking Lot Excavations: The Channel Installations and the Growth of Jerusalem during the 9th Century BCE’, in: Y. Shalev and others (eds.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region 16 (2023), pp. 63-85 [Hebrew].
Y. Shalev and others, ‘The Givʿati Parking Lot Excavations (2017-2020)’, Qadmoniyot 55 (2023), pp. 24-35 [Hebrew].