Flippant Evidence In Jerusalem's Rock-Cut-Rooms

Recently a paper published in conjunction with Weizmann Institute and Israel Antiquities Authority uncharacteristically stated: “Thus, several seeds from an ash layer found below a thin wall in Area U (Room 19040), indicate a 9th century BC date for the construction of this room and adjacent structures, as well as the hewing of a series of rock-cut rooms to which the architectural remains were connected based on stratigraphic observations (SI Appendix, Figs. S18 and S20). Also dating to this century in Area U was a collapsed refuse of building materials, uncovered in Room 17063, built directly on top of the bedrock (RTD 9180, Fig. 2 and SI Appendix, Figs. S4, S9, and S12).”

After Joe Uziel discovered the Iron Age fragments on the north eastern wall of the Spring Tower, he has carefully and consistently argued that Iron Age findings in stratigraphic layers bias the entire area, including Area U. Now he chose this opportunity to boldly, almost flippantly state "as well as the hewing of a series of rock-cut rooms" inferring that the rock-cut-rooms should also assume this Iron Age date. Not so fast Joe, here I present the most pertinent facts related to the strata and dating of the rock-cut-rooms, which you seem to ignore. 

With this information you can consider whether rock-cut-rooms should be dated to the Iron Age or the Middle Bronze Age? I will only present the most relevant, critical, carbon dated samples, that were found closest to bedrock. 

Click to enlarge color coded image 

Sample RTD 9180 was found in a small pit (south) in a room and RTD 9181 on the northern end in a 5 cm ash layer just above the upper bedrock surface of Area-U, the ridge west of the rock-cut-rooms (in the pink rectangle). RTD 10293 and RTD 9965, were also found in Area U, but importantly these were located below the level of the upper bedrock surface, in soft soil, under a man-made plaster layer in a water channel that ran into rock-cut-rooms 1 and 5. RTD 10191, the oldest Middle Bronze sample, was found under leveling rocks that were used to stabilize the wall of Room 1948. RTD 11362, furthest to the north, was found in a 5 cm ash layer and is the oldest of the Iron Age samples found in that excavation.

Anecdotally notice the Iron Age samples dated RTD 9180 and RTD 11362 are found on the north-south boundary adjacent to the functional rock-cut-rooms, whereas Middle Bronze samples RTD 10293, RTD 9965, RTD 9181 and RTD 10191 are aligned east-west to the functional, bedrock layers of the rock-cut-rooms.

For this purpose, there is little point paying attention to stratigraphic layers above these samples because they reflect the earliest possible dates the rock-cut-rooms were used, which is the fact that must still be established. I'm appealing to Joe to clarify these important, perhaps critical points because these rock-cut-rooms are extremely sensitive and these low lying stratigraphic samples potentially align with Israel's forefathers or even earlier Biblical figures and it deserve to be treated accordingly. 

Jerusalem's Final Temple

Reexamining the Akedah Location: Temple Zero and Mount Moriah’s Sanctity

The location of the altar of Akedat Yitzchak (binding of Isaac) remains a pivotal question in Jewish tradition, with the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 2:1 asserting that the altar’s site is "extremely precise" and unchangeable, linking the Akedah (Genesis 22:2) to Solomon’s Temple on Mount Moriah (II Chronicles 3:1) [1]. Traditionally, this is the Temple Mount’s Even HaShtiyah (Foundation Stone). However, the Middle Bronze Age (1615–1445 BCE) Temple Zero complex in the City of David, with its westernmost altar platform and matzevah, offers a compelling alternative for the altar at Akedah’s historical site, prompting a reevaluation of the Rambam’s Hebrew phrasing and Mount Moriah’s sanctity [2].

The Rambam’s considered use of בַמִּקְדָּשׁ ("in the temple") and אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה ("land of Moriah") welcomes ambiguity, as מִקְדָּשׁ can mean a "sanctified place" and אֶרֶץ suggests a broader region [1]. This permits the Akedah at Temple Zero, 500–700 meters south of the Temple Mount, within Mount Moriah’s limestone ridge [3]. Buried by circa 1550 BCE, Temple Zero aligns with the original use of Zion as the City of David (2 Samuel 5:7), where King David first sought a pre-existing Israelite heritage site [4], from where he would unify the nation. The argument posits that Temple Zero is the site of Akedah’s true altar, potentially the future Third Temple’s site, citing its alignment with the Ein Shemesh (Gihon Spring) and prophetic critiques of the post Solomon's Temple altar placement (Haggai 2:9, II Kings 18:4) [2, 4].

Commentators relate the Even HaShtiyah as the entirety of Mount Moriah, the "Foundation Stone" or "Rock" (Zohar, Vayera 97b), unifying Temple Zero’s sanctity, Zion and Jerusalem (Zohar, VaYeshev 1:186a) with the Temple Mount [5]. Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 48:10–20) expands the Third Temple’s sacred zone to include the City of David, supporting Temple Zero’s holiness [6]. However, the Rambam’s unchangeable altar and halachic tradition (Mishnah Middot 3:1) prioritize the Temple Mount as the site for Solomon’s and the Third Temple’s altars [1, 7]. A synthesis proposes Temple Zero as the Akedah’s historical altar, its sanctity subsumed into the Temple Mount’s Even HaShtiyah when David chose the threshing floor (II Samuel 24:18) as guided by prophecy [3] for his altar after which he declared it the altar of the nation (II Chronicles 3:1). This reconciles the brevity of Temple Zero evidence with halachic primacy, unless and until the claim for the Third Temple’s altar at Temple Zero gains mainstream support [2].

References:

1. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 2:1
2. Akedah and the Final Temple Altar
3. City of David is Zion - What is the Temple Mount?
4. Jerusalem vs. The Sun
5. Zohar, Vayera 97b
6. Zohar, VaYeshev 186a
7. Ezekiel 48:10–20
8. Mishnah Middot 3:1