Just steps from the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, Tel Aviv University archaeologist Yuval Gadot stands in a deep pit and peers at two massive and finely dressed limestone pillars framing a doorway. More than 2,500 years ago, they marked the entry into a large two-story building in a prestigious area of the bustling city. Stepping across the threshold, Gadot points at a rough stone surface bordered with soil that has an eerie yellow hue. When the building burned, “the earth was heated to such a high temperature that it turned the ground into a yellow crust,” he says. The fire that swept through the structure in August 586 b.c., when a Babylonian army invaded the doomed city, also collapsed the second floor, sending plaster, stone, and timbers crashing down. “They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem,” records the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Chronicles. “They burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.”
This story is from the January/February 2022 edition of Archaeology.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
This story is from the January/February 2022 edition of Archaeology.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Archaeology's Top 10 Discoveries of 2021
Discoveries
A Brush With Genius
An unprecedented find in central China brings to life the early years of a master calligrapher
THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE
In the early 1960s, archaeologists from around the world descended on the Upper Nile Valley.
Under the Holy City
A long-running excavation in Jerusalem unearths evidence for two of the city’s least-known eras
TURNING SALT INTO GOLD
In the Austrian Alps, generations of miners toiled to extract the ancient world’s most valuable resource
OFF THE GRID
OPLONTIS, ITALY
AT FACE VALUE
Researchers are using new scientific methods to investigate how artists in Roman Egypt customized portraits for the dead
When Isis Was Queen
At the ancient Egyptian temples of Philae, Nubians gave new life to a vanishing religious tradition
ITALIAN MASTER BUILDERS
A 3,500-year-old ritual pool reflects a little-known culture’s agrarian prowess
Piecing Together Maya Creation Stories
Thousands of mural fragments from the city of San Bartolo illustrate how the Maya envisioned their place in the universe
FROM MECCA TO THE VATICAN, EXPLORING SACRED SITES WITH VR
Click and gape at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel ceiling up close. Click again and join thousands of pilgrims praying and circling around the cube-shaped Kaaba at Islam’s most sacred site. Or strap on a headset and enter the holy city of Jerusalem.
FOUR ATTITUDES That Will Transform Your Life Forever
Everyone is looking for guidance to navigate the uncertainty and challenges that we collectively face in today’s world. Sometimes the source of such guidance has been right in front of us all along, and all we need is a simple reminder that the answers to our deepest problems are within our grasp. DAAJI shares an ancient source with us, enlightening us on four simple atttitudes that keep us safe in all storms.
DE TAL MANERA AMÓ DIOS
Desde niños nos enseñan la verdad del Evangelio a través de una sencilla canción: Cristo ama a los niños, cuántos en el mundo están. No le importa el color a Jesús, el Salvador. Cristo ama a los niños por doquier.
Wonders of the White Continent
Make lasting memories on an expedition voyage in Antarctica.
Built by Angels
My mother called to ask if I knew the story of the 11 churches carved from single stones in Ethiopia
Secrets of the Labyrinth
I WAS AT THE ENTRY OF Battery Park’s Labyrinth of Contemplation in New York City. A winding pathway of rocks and grass stretched out before me. After studying labyrinths for weeks, I wanted to try one. I’d learned that these fantastical, circuitous pathways can act as prayer tools, helping calm the mind and soul. I sure needed that. Beyond this quiet park, the city had been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Though cases were down and things seemed to be improving, I still felt overwhelmed and uncertain about the future. Will I find the spiritual comfort I’m looking for? I wondered. Adjusting my face mask, I took a deep breath and began….
PENTECOST Reconciles
I know a man whose family moved to the United States from South Korea when he was elementary school age. He has vivid memories of feeling as if something had been torn away; an abrupt disconnection from the culture he loved and the life that made sense to him. He was replanted in a country, neighborhood, and school where everyone spoke a language he had not mastered. He was harassed and mistreated by the other children because he didn’t look like them.
CRISTIAN GEELEN
The Middle East through my lens
History And High Tech Attract Meetings And Events To Jerusalem
History and high tech attract meetings and events to Jerusalem.
Explore The Wonders Of Israel
In Israel, history and culinary adventures meet a cosmopolitan vibe that make for a trip of a lifetime.