King David Searched For This Temple of His Forefathers

In the early years of his kingship, David sensed it, but never knew that right under his feet was the temple, on Mount Moriah, where his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob once worshipped. Instead, he spent most of his life searching for the place to build the nations temple.  

For 7 years we progressed down through ~7 meters of dirt, excavating materials in each of the time bound layers on our way to the bedrock below. Finally, compressed destruction layers revealed the archaeological motherload, critical remnants that had been buried for thousands of years. Several Iron Age buildings rested along the western bedrock edge that descended into the void of six rock-cut-rooms immediately below to the east.

Pottery discovered in Iron Age buildings

But, pottery and other items paled in comparison to the secrets that were trapped closest to bedrock and in mortar from the walls. The organic materials were our true prize and samples 9181 and 9962 were the most puzzling. These two samples had been trapped in an ash layer, under the stone wall of building W15048 was sample 9181 and under a fallen rock nearby 9962. 

"Next to the channel/installation, at the level of up to 10 cm above the bedrock, a thin ca. 1-cm horizontal layer of ash was identified. In the west, where sample RTD-9962 was taken, it was covered by a collapse of medium size stones, and to the east, dated by RTD-9181, it continued beneath a floor of an Iron age building. The ash horizon could be traced for ca. 2 m and it dates between 1605 and 1510 BC." | Weizmann/Cambridge.

Two IAA reference Maps overlayed. The red dots mark sample 9181 and 9962.

What's so special about these samples, you may ask?  For 15 years archaeologists sought to discover more about the bedrock rooms. When were they constructed, what were the order of construction, when did they go out of use and one of the most perplexing questions of all, did King David and Solomon ever learn of there existence. 

For nearly 1000 years, through King David and Solomon, samples 9181 and 9962 survived in 5cm of ash on top of 10cm of soil, until later they were sealed by an Iron Age building and a fallen rock. Their deposition was followed by a period of abandonment and burial by soil falling from the natural slope, most likely during the well known 17th century settlement gap. Later structures, of the 13th century, early Iron Age, were built on top of compacted soil close to the bedrock protecting the samples and later modifications to those structures continued their protection.

Immediately southwest of these samples, a Middle Bronze Age water channel and reservoir was constructed and last used in 1535 BCE during a narrow time-window that overlaps the last 30 years Jacob lived in the region before Israel immigrated to Egypt and returned, 250 years later, during the early Iron Age. More than 300 years later King David conquered and occupied the Jebusite city on Mount Moriah. More than one hundred years after King David these Iron Age structures were constructed securing the samples. 

From the evidence we must conclude that during the time of David and Solomon the ash layer in which 9181 and 9962 lay was not disturbed by foot traffic or the Middle Bronze ash layers would have been disrupted. Further that construction over these samples was light and inconsequential because the building walls were not required to be secured to the bedrock foundation. 

During King David’s reign, the rock-cut-rooms may have been entirely buried by natural debris and soil from the steep slope or perhaps the local residents purposely obfuscated the temple site. Either way it’s increasingly clear that once the temple went and stayed out of use sometime shortly after 1535 BCE.

The video below demonstrates the evolution of Mount Moriah and the obfuscation of its eastern slope.