Exposed in Jerusalem

See this map?



The story:

For the First Time the Main Road of Jerusalem, from 1,500 Years Ago, is Exposed

An IAA Archaeological Excavation in the Heart of the Old City Confirms a Description on an Ancient Map

The excavations are being carried out at the initiation of the Jerusalem Development Authority, prior to rehabilitating the infrastructure

Madaba Map – an ancient mosaic map in a church in Jordan from the sixth-seventh century CE, which depicted the Land of Israel in the Byzantine period, explicitly showed: the entrance to Jerusalem from the west was via a very large gate that led to a single, central thoroughfare on that side of the city.

Various evidence of the important buildings in Jerusalem that appear on the map has been uncovered over the years or has survived to this day – for example the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – but the large bustling street from the period when Jerusalem became a Christian city has not been discovered until now. The reason for this is that no archaeological excavations took place in the region due to the inconvenience it would cause in stopping traffic in such a busy central location.

Now, because of the need for a thorough treatment of the infrastructure in the region, the Jerusalem Development Authority has initiated rehabilitation work and is renewing the infrastructure in this area in general, and next to the entrance to David Street (known to tourists as the stepped-street with the shops) in particular. Thus it is possible for both archaeologists and the public to catch a rare glimpse of what is going on beneath the flagstone pavement that is so familiar to us all.

The region of Jerusalem and both sides of the actual street as it appears on the Madaba Map above are marked in red and the location is center-bottom, slightly to the right.