event · E0461
Stepped Stone Structure המבנה המדורג והמבנה הגדול
Two joined monuments at the top of the City of David's eastern slope: the Stepped Stone Structure, a massive terraced stone mantle some 18 meters high (exposed by Macalister and Duncan in the 1920s and excavated by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and Yigal Shiloh in 1978–85), and above it the Large Stone Structure, a monumental building excavated from 2005 by Eilat Mazar, who identified it as the palace of David. The stones are real and the two structures are the largest early monumental remains in Jerusalem; everything else — whether they are one architectural unit, whether they date to the 10th century BCE or earlier or later, and whether any of it is David's — is a standing dispute between Mazar's reading and the skepticism of Israel Finkelstein and others.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- המבנה המדורג והמבנה הגדול
- Also known as
- Large Stone Structure, City of David Area G structures, "David's palace" candidate
- Era
- bible
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 2892–2964 AM if the structures are the fortress-and-palace building of David and Shlomo — David takes the city 2892 AM on the traditional count — but the identification is exactly what is disputed, and the academic range begins before it.
- Civil (computed)
- 2892–2964 AM · 869–797 BCE (trad.)
- Academic
- c. 1200–900 BCE; the internal dating between Iron I and Iron IIA is the crux of the dispute
- Date range
- Iron Age I–IIA, c. 12th–9th centuries BCE (dating disputed)
- Duration
- ≈72 years
- Precision
- disputed
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
Why it matters
This terraced stone cascade is where the argument over David's Jerusalem is physically fought. Tanakh says David dwelt in the fortress, built "from the Millo inward," and received a house built by Chiram of Tzor's craftsmen; the Stepped Stone Structure has long been a candidate for the Millo's terracing, and Eilat Mazar read the Large Stone Structure above it as that very house. Her critics answer that the "building" may be several structures of several centuries, none necessarily the 10th century BCE. What is not in dispute is what stands on the slope: the largest monumental construction of early Iron Age Jerusalem, too big for a village. The question the stones pose — was 10th-century Jerusalem a royal capital or a hamlet? — is the entire united-monarchy debate in miniature, and it remains open.
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Stepped Stone Structure in Area G — a terraced stone mantle roughly 18 m high on the City of David's eastern slope — was exposed by R. A. S. Macalister and J. G. Duncan in the 1920s and excavated by Kathleen Kenyon (1960s) and Yigal Shiloh (1978–85). The Large Stone Structure at the top of the ridge was excavated from 2005 by Eilat Mazar, who announced it that August as plausibly the palace of King David. Both remain in situ in the City of David National Park. | archaeology | ★★★★★ |
|
| The structures are authenticated — no one doubts the stones or the excavations; the dispute is the identification and the date. Mazar dated the Large Stone Structure to the 10th century BCE and read it with the Stepped Stone Structure as one royal complex; Israel Finkelstein and colleagues counter that the remains may be several structures of different periods, with elements as late as Hasmonean, and that a 10th-century royal palace cannot be demonstrated. The dating between Iron I and Iron IIA — a spread of centuries — is itself unresolved, and the atlas grades the dates disputed.
As with Herodium's tomb, the site is authenticated and the identification is the debated part — the grade belongs to the claim, not the stones.
|
archaeology | ★★★★★ |
|
| The biblical text the debate orbits: David took the fortress of Tzion, dwelt in it, "and built around from the Millo and inward," and Chiram king of Tzor sent cedars, carpenters, and masons who "built a house for David." The Stepped Stone Structure's terracing is a long-standing candidate for the Millo (from l'malle, "to fill"), and Mazar's palace identification reads the Large Stone Structure as Chiram's house. Both identifications are possible readings, not demonstrated ones.
Graded at the strength of the connection, not the find: the anchor text is secure; its attachment to these stones is the contested reading.
|
biblical archaeology | ★★★☆☆ | |
| The AM placement (c. 2892–2964) is conditional: it lays the structures where the traditional count puts David's capture of the city (2892 AM) through Shlomo's building years — which is only where they belong if Mazar's identification holds. The academic range (c. 1200–900 BCE) starts earlier, in what the traditional count would call the era of the Shoftim, and above the Persian-period seam the two chronologies do not map onto each other. The atlas positions by the traditional reading of the disputed identification and flags the whole placement as disputed.
Schematic placement for the atlas timeline; doubly conditional here, on both the chronology convention and the identification.
|
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |