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archeologist have learn a monolithic moat beneath a parking lot in Jerusalem , and they say the defence structure may have been used to divide the city during biblical times .
Constructed of stone , the ancient fosse is nearly 100 metrical unit ( 30 metre ) wide and 20 feet ( 6 m ) deep , and it sit at the bottom of a bedrock ditch . Based on the fosse ’s location , researcher think it once differentiate much of the ancient urban center from significant holy internet site such as the Temple Mount , accord to a study published in October 2023 in Tel Aviv , Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University .
Part of the ancient moat was buried beneath a parking structure in Jerusalem.
investigator are unsure of the exact date of the moat ’s construction , but they think it was establish sometime around the 9th C B.C. , during the Iron Age . The fosse ’s purpose also remain unclear and could ’ve been used for any bit of purposes .
Gadot described the architectural feat as " one of a form " and a " major monumental project that could only be execute by the mogul ruling over the metropolis . "
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" Dating it to the 9th century [ B.C. ] means this labor should be associate with one of Judah ’s early Billie Jean King that are mentioned in the Old Testament , " Gadot said . " Executing a fosse like that exhibits their big businessman and ability to lead monumental undertaking that altered and reshape the rude topography of the city for 100 . "
In early 2023 , archaeologists discovered two circle of channel drill into the basics tunneling beneath the same parking circumstances where the moat is located , Israeli newspaperHaaretz reported .
The uncovering of the moat provide researchers with new perceptivity into the boundaries of the ancient urban center and what , if any , defending team mechanism Jerusalem employed thousands of years ago .
However , Gadot said some questions remain : How did the city fend for itself from the northward , how was the Temple Mount incorporated into the urban center and how was it connected with the old metropolis ? "
" The City of David rooftree is fence in by deep valleys from the east , south and west , but there is nothing defending it from the north , " Gadot said .
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The moat could have served as a northerly defense body structure .
" Thanks to other excavation , we can see the moat allowed those who build up their castle and the temple on the top of Temple Mount , to confine the approach into the newly build acropolis — to make a strong-arm watershed that is also a herculean symbol , " he supply .
The use of the fosse " continue until the Late Hellenistic period [ 332 to 63 B.C. ] , when structure activities backfilled the ditch , head to its disappearing from the cityscape , " the research worker wrote in the discipline .
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