Archaeologists have uncovered burned wooden beams dating back to the destruction of the First Temple in an excavation in Jerusalem.
The discovery was made at the Givati Parking Lot dig in the City of David, within the national park that surrounds Jerusalem’s ancient walls.
How burned wooden beams survived Jerusalem’s ancient fire
The wooden beams were charred during the destruction of Jerusalem’s First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC, when a massive fire swept through the city and caused the building to collapse. Buried beneath the rubble, they remained preserved for approximately 2,600 years until their discovery.
Efrat Bocher, the excavation director, explained that the beams likely once formed the roof of an inner courtyard inside a building from the First Temple period. She said the beams fell to the floor when the structure collapsed during the fire.
Bocher explained that melted plaster from the building’s walls likely spread over the charred wood. That layer of plaster, she said, sealed the beams in place and helped preserve them for thousands of years.
Tree rings from charred timber could sharpen ancient dating
Dr. Yohanna Regev of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Weizmann Institute of Science is studying the find. She said that it is rare to find ancient wood in Israel with so many preserved growth rings.
Regev said that the beams recovered at the site hold a large number of rings, giving them major research value. She explained that more rings allow for greater accuracy in dating.
Until now, researchers could only date findings from this period within a range of several hundred years. Regev said separating and studying the rings one by one could narrow that range down to as little as ten years.
Excavation directors Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University said the find shows how severe the destruction of Jerusalem was. They said the large building was deliberately set on fire and collapsed all at once.
Ruins left standing as Jerusalem residents preserved memory
The researchers noted that during the Persian period, after the destruction, residents sealed off the entrance to that area but kept living in other parts of the building. Shalev and Gadot said this choice reflects a strong desire among residents to hold on to the memory of what happened.
Creating a space tied to memory, they said, is a basic human need, especially after a traumatic event. Residents chose to leave the ruins standing as a reminder of the destruction and rebuilt nearby instead of clearing the site away.
Bocher said that the timing of the discovery feels meaningful, coming just before the Ninth of Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the temple’s destruction. She noted that the find gives a strong sense of witnessing the exact moment everything happened.
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