JERUSALEM, Israel – Archaeologists in the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David have discovered a giant moat that protected the kings of Israel in ancient times.
The moat is at least 27 feet deep and nearly 100 feet wide and was constructed to protect the upper part of the city where the Jewish Temple and the king’s palace were located. Constructed more than 3,500 years ago, the moat was a separation barrier that divided the city in two.
The discovery was a joint project of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University funded by the City of David, and was found during an excavation of a parking lot. Building on previous excavations, it was determined that the moat was the lower city’s northern fortification line.
Professor Yuval Gadot from Tel Aviv University, the excavation director, stated, “Following the dramatic discovery, we returned to the past excavations of the British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated in the City of David in the 1960s, in an area located slightly east of today’s Givati Parking Lot. It became clear to us that Kenyon noticed that the natural rock slopes towards the north, in a place where it naturally should have risen. She thought
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