Radiocarbon dating and microarchaeology untangle the history of Jerusalem's Temple Mount: A view from Wilson's Arch

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 3;15(6):e0233307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233307. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Radiocarbon dating is rarely applied in Classical and Post-Classical periods in the Eastern Mediterranean, as it is not considered precise enough to solve specific chronological questions, often causing the attribution of historic monuments to be based on circumstantial evidence. This research, applied in Jerusalem, presents a novel approach to solve this problem. Integrating fieldwork, stratigraphy, and microarchaeology analyses with intense radiocarbon dating of charred remains in building materials beneath Wilson's Arch, we absolutely dated monumental structures to very narrow windows of time-even to specific rulers. Wilson's Arch was initiated by Herod the Great and enlarged during the Roman Procurators, such as Pontius Pilatus, in a range of 70 years, rather than 700 years, as previously discussed by scholars. The theater-like structure is dated to the days of Emperor Hadrian and left unfinished before 132-136 AD. Through this approach, it is possible to solve archaeological riddles in intensely urban environments in the historical periods.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Archaeology / methods*
  • Archaeology / statistics & numerical data
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Construction Industry / history
  • Construction Materials / analysis
  • Construction Materials / history
  • Facility Design and Construction / history*
  • History, Ancient
  • Humans
  • Israel
  • Radiometric Dating / methods*
  • Radiometric Dating / statistics & numerical data

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grant No. 1873/17) to E.B., J.U., Y.G. and D. B-A. The field work was funded by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The Radiocarbon lab is supported by the Exilarch’s Foundation for the Dangoor Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (D-REAMS) and the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.