Has the kingdom of King David been found? Archaeologist claims five fortified cities near Jerusalem were ruled by the Biblical figure in 1000 BC
- An archaeologist believes five ancient cities were part of a single kingdom
- This kingdom is claimed to have been ruled by King David 3,000 years ago
By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
An archaeologist claims the ruins of five fortified cities outside of Jerusalem belonged to the same kingdom ruled by the Biblical figure King David.
Yosef Garfinkle with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the cities date to the early 10th century BC, some 200 years than previously thought, placing their construction in the time of David.
Garfinkel’s study, published in June, describes the cities all featuring two parallel walls in the center and organized roads, suggesting the network was connected to one kingdom.
While the cities were discovered separately, the archaeologist claims he is the first to connect the dots – determining they are an organized urban network built around 1000 BC.
And King David ruled from 1104 to 960 BC during the Iron Age.
David is said to have been a shepherd boy who became Israel’s third and most crucial king around 1000 BC when he united all the tribes of Israel under a single monarch – but the story has been disputed due to a lack of evidence.
‘I hate to use the term ‘trying to prove the Bible,’ because I’m not trying to prove anything,’ Garfinkel told Times of Israel.
‘There are biblical traditions, and we can see if these have historical memories or not… It doesn’t mean that everything, 100 percent, is historical memories.
‘Sometimes there are mistakes, sometimes there is wishful thinking, sometimes there is ideology.’
The ruins sites are in Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tell en-Naṣbeh, Khirbet ed-Dawwara, Lachish and Beth Shemesh, north and west of Jerusalem.
The fortified city in Khirbet Qeiyafa, excavated from 2007 through 2013, was found to include two gates, two piazzas, a casemate city wall, a peripheral belt of buildings abutting the city wall, a large pillared building and a major public building occupying the highest point of the site.
A casemate consisted of two thinner, parallel, with empty space between them.
Beth Shemesh is located in northern Shephelah, roughly a day’s walk from Jerusalem and was discovered in 1911.
‘A photograph of this city wall depicts two casemates built of massive stones, as would be expected for a city’s fortification,’ reads the study.
Tell en-Naṣbeh, also a half-day’s walk to Jerusalem, was excavated from 1926 to 1935.
