150 Years of Excavations in Jerusalem

New archaeological discoveries in Jerusalem are practically a daily event. So much so, that all the books on archaeology that I purchased, have become outdated and irrelevant within a very short while.

A Tel, unlike a natural hill, is manmade. Settlements that were built one top of the remnants of the previous one, create a hill-like (Tel) shape with many strata (layers). Jerusalem is like that, many strata from many periods and kingdoms built one on top of the other.

To learn more about Tels, go to my BLOG.

Archaeologists face a perpetual conflict; when they discover something important should they destroy it, or continue digging downwards and find more. They always must reach some compromise.

In this video you’ll see a brief history of 150 years of excavations in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park narrated by Professor Ronni Reich, including some rare pictures of before and after excavations. Today, some years after this video was taken, these sites look totally different given much more has been uncovered since then.