Givati Parking Lot dig



The Givati Parking Lot dig is an archaeological excavation located in Silwan. It is adjacent to the City of David archaeological site. The dig was conducted by Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the City of David Foundation.

History
Excavations of the former Givati Parking Lot began in 2007. Among the 2007 discoveries is an ancient building believed to have been the palace of Queen Helena of Adiabene.

In 2008 archaeologists uncovered a hoard of 264 gold coins minted at the beginning of the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius, between the years 610–613 CE, thus just before the Persian conquest of Jerusalem.

In 2010, the dig produced a small, Roman-era cameo of Cupid. It is made from onyx. The cupid is in a "striking" blue on a dark brown ground, he has wings and curly hair. The round cameo would have been an insert in a piece of jewelry. Cupid's left hand rests on an overturned torch, symbolizing death, so it was probably a mourning piece.

In November 2015, discovery of a tower and glacis identified as belonging to the Seleucid fortress known as the Acra was announced. According to archaeologists Doron Ben-Ami, Yana Tchekhanovets and Salome Dan Goor they had unearthed a complex of rooms and fortified walls they identified as the Acra. Finds include fortification walls, a watchtower measuring 4 by 20 meters, and a glacis. Bronze arrowheads, lead sling-stones and ballista stones were unearthed at the site, stamped with a trident characteristic to the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. These are indicative of the military nature of the site and the efforts to take it. The finds included coins from the reigns of Antiochus Epiphanes through Antiochus VII Sidetes, as well as a multitude of stamped Rhodian amphora handles.

Archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer disagrees with this identification. He claims the location and north–south orientation of the fortifications make them part of the defensive walls of what is known today as the City of David and described by Josephus as the Lower City. This Lower City was fortified by the Seleucids, who built the citadel known as Acra. In Greek, any fortification is called an acra. This is a common noun, not a proper one, thus some confusion as to which fortification each specific ancient description is referring to: the refortified City of David, which Ritmeyer identifies as Josephus' southern part of the Lower City, or the Acra proper, the entirely new fortress. Based on the writings of Josephus and 1 Maccabees 1:33,

Ritmeyer argues (a) there were two distinct fortified structures in the Lower City and (b) the new citadel, the Acra, was higher than the Temple, which it overlooked. Given that the new finds from the Givati Parking Lot are some 200 metres away from the Temple Mount of the Hellenistic period, and at a much lower elevation than the Mount, they could not be part of the Acra that "overlooked the temple".

In 2019, a seal bearing the inscription "(belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King" was discovered. The discoverers believe this seal probably refers to the official Nathan-melech mentioned in 2 Kings 23:11. In 2023, a series of channels dating to the 9th century BCE were discovered.