Possible evidence of a Bible earthquake found in the City of David

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Archaeologists said that the 2,800-year-old earthquake was so severe that it was mentioned in the Bible. (Photo credit: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an earthquake that struck the City of David in Jerusalem some 2,800 years ago and it could be a major event described in the Hebrew Bible.

During the excavations, the archaeological team from the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered a layer of destruction dating back to that period in the City of David National Park. Inside the layer was “a row of smashed utensils, including bowls, lamps, cooking utensils, and storage and storage utensils, all of which were smashed [a] “The walls of the building collapsed,” the archaeological team said in a statement issued by the Antiquities Authority, and archaeologists did not find traces of a fire, and they suspect that the city was attacked by an invading force.

They found that other sites in the region experienced similar destruction about 2,800 years ago, adding that signs of destruction from several sites in the southern Levant could be evidence of a biblical earthquake. The books of Amos and Zechariah both mention an earthquake that occurred around this time, when Jerusalem was the capital of the kingdom of Judah and was ruled by a king named Uzziah. Zechariah 14:5 reads, “You will flee as you fled from earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.”

RELATED: 10 Fascinating Discoveries From The Biblical Era

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Shown here, part of the area in Jerusalem that the team is excavating. Their discoveries reveal that the area was hit by an earthquake 2,800 years ago. (Photo source: Ortal Khalaf / Israel Antiquities Authority) Photo 2 of 4

Archaeologists said that the 2,800-year-old earthquake was so severe that it was mentioned in the Bible. (Photo source: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David) Photo 3 of 4

More potential damage from the ancient earthquake can be seen here. (Photo source: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David) Photo 4 of 4

This pottery likely shattered when a building fell on top of it during an earthquake 2,800 years ago, archaeologists say. (Photo credit: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)

“It seems likely that even though Jerusalem was not the epicenter of the earthquake [of the earthquake], I was greatly affected,” Joe Uziel, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority and one of the team leaders, told Live Science. The observation that Jerusalem was likely not the epicenter is based on damage found at Jerusalem and other sites. in the region.

Ozil said the excavations revealed that after the destruction people reconstructed the destroyed buildings and walls. The fact that earthquake is mentioned in the Bible is “a sign of that [the earthquake] It would have been very painful.”

Has that already happened?

Scientists who were not involved in the team’s research were cautiously supporting the team’s conclusions. “The archaeologists’ explanation seems possible,” said Yisrael Finkelstein, professor emeritus of archeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Finkelstein cautioned that the team’s study, including the interpretation of the pottery, was not published in a peer-reviewed journal; The team used this pottery to help establish the date of the earthquake. Finkelstein also said the area excavated in Jerusalem needs to be studied by seismologists to confirm the case for an earlier earthquake.

Finkelstein noted that evidence of a major earthquake in the eighth century BC can also be found at other sites in the region, including at Megiddo—a spot where Finkelstein investigated. About 15 years ago, a team of seismologists and archaeologists documented evidence of the Megiddo earthquake, Finkelstein said, which “included leaning and broken walls.”

“I haven’t seen the excavations, but some damage was expected by the middle of the eighth century [B.C.] Shmuel Marko, a professor of geophysics at Tel Aviv University who was involved in studying the Megiddo earthquake 15 years ago, said the earthquake will be found in Jerusalem. In other excavations and in the depths of the Dead Sea.” Which indicates that the earthquake hit a wide area.

“The Jerusalem team’s interpretation seems reasonable to me,” said Jason Radin, chair of the department of world religions at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He pointed out that the Hebrew Bible mentions that Jerusalem was attacked in about the seventies or eighties of the seventh century BC by Israel (which at that time was a separate kingdom from Judah). However, Radin said that “such an attack would leave a burnt layer, which prospectors indicate was not present in their discovery,” suggesting that an earthquake was the most likely cause of the destruction.

Thomas Levy, a distinguished professor of archeology at the University of California, San Diego, believes that the damage may have been caused by an earthquake and that it can be shown that this earthquake is the same as mentioned in the Bible. “When biblical data is combined with ancient archaeological and seismic data from the southern Levant, a strong connection emerges between the Book of Amos, a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, and the archaeological record,” Levy told Live Science.

The team’s research will be presented in September at the “City of David Research” conference.

Originally published on Live Science.

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