Excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem have uncovered archaeological evidence of an earthquake mentioned in the Bible during the time of the Kingdom of Judah.
Traces of the earthquake, which struck Israel around 2,800 years ago, had already been unearthed in several sites across the country, but researchers believe they have identified for the first time evidence of destruction indicating that this earthquake also struck Jerusalem — the capital of the kingdom of Judah.
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The Givati Parking Lot excavation grounds with the Old City walls in the background
(Photo: Flash90)
The excavations revealed a layer of destroyed artifacts including a row of containers, bowls, lamps, kitchen utensils and storage jars, shattered during the collapse of the walls of the building in which they were located.
The researchers point out that the fact that no sign of fire was detected in the remains leads to the conclusion that it was not a deliberate event, and that the collapse of the building originated in the earthquake that occurred in Israel in the 8th century BC.
“We wondered what could have caused such a heavy layer of destruction and we looked for a reference in the biblical text. We then discovered that the earthquake that appears in the Bible in the books of Amos and Zechariah, occurred when the building we unearthed in the City of David collapsed," said Drs Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf, directors of excavations at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
"The combination of the findings on the ground with the biblical description therefore led us to the conclusion that the earthquake that struck the land of Israel during the reign of Ozias, king of Judah, also struck the capital of the kingdom — Jerusalem."
The researchers clarified that this earthquake was probably one of the strongest and deadliest to have struck in the region throughout Antiquity.