Solomon's Wall (Ophel fortification) - Biblical Archaeology Encyclopedia

Overview

A stretch of city wall with an inner gatehouse, an adjoining 'royal structure' and towers on the Ophel, the saddle between the City of David ridge and the Temple Mount. Charles Warren traced the outline of the large tower in an underground survey in 1867 without assigning it a date. Benjamin and Eilat Mazar excavated in the area in the 1980s (final report: Qedem 29, 1989). Eilat Mazar re-excavated it and on 22 February 2010 the Hebrew University announced it as a city wall of the 10th century BCE, which she connected with Solomon's building of 'the wall of Jerusalem round about' (1 Kings 3:1).

The 2010 release lists a 70 m wall section 6 m high, a four-room gatehouse, a 24 x 18 m tower, storage jars 1.15 m tall burned in a fire, cult figurines, seal impressions reading 'to the king', Hebrew bullae, and a jar with a partial Hebrew inscription that Mazar read as naming a high government official. The date rests on sherds in the fill of the lowest floor of the building beside the gate and on comparison with gates at Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod.

The date is disputed. Finkelstein, Herzog, Singer-Avitz and Ussishkin (Tel Aviv 34, 2007) argued, from Mazar's own earlier publication of this 'Solomonic city-wall', that the dated evidence placed its use in the 8th-7th centuries BCE and that the 10th-century attribution came from the biblical text rather than the finds.

What the evidence shows

Wall section c. 70 m long and 6 m high; eastern section 35 m long and 5 m high (Hebrew University release, 22 Feb 2010).
Inner gatehouse 6 m high with a symmetrical four-room plan; tower beside it 24 x 18 m; corner tower 8 m long, 6 m high overlooking the Kidron valley (same release).
Storage jars 1.15 m high were found burned; one bears a partial Hebrew inscription that the excavator read as belonging to a high government official (same release).
Finds also include cult figurines, seal impressions reading 'to the king', and Hebrew bullae; the release does not give the stratum of each.
The dating evidence given is: pottery sherds 'within the fill of the lowest floor of the royal building near the gatehouse', plus architectural comparison with gates at Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod.
Charles Warren recorded the outline of the large tower in 1867 without attributing it to Solomon (same release).
The Ophel area was excavated in the 1980s by B. and E. Mazar; their report (Qedem 29, 1989) includes Iron Age II figurines, Hebrew inscriptions and seal impressions, and a dendrochronology study from the 1986 season.
No radiocarbon dates specific to this wall were found in the sources checked.

Open questions

Date of construction. Eilat Mazar (Hebrew University release, 22 Feb 2010) dates the wall to the late 10th century BCE on the basis of sherds in the fill of the lowest floor of the adjoining building and on gate plans like Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod. Finkelstein, Herzog, Singer-Avitz and Ussishkin (Tel Aviv 34, 2007: 159) respond, concerning Mazar's 2006 chapter 'The Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem': 'As she admits, the chronological data recovered in her excavations indicate that the sole Iron Age fortification system extending in this area was in use during the 8th-7th centuries BCE,' and that it was dated to Solomon because 'the Solomonic city-wall must have passed here' according to the biblical sources. Evidence to test: sherds in a fill give only the earliest possible date of the floor above them; four-room gates are known in more than one Iron Age phase (our reading). The 2010 finds post-date Finkelstein's critique, and no published response to them was located for this entry.
Whether 'to the king' seal impressions, bullae and burned jars belong to the wall's construction phase or to its later use and destruction: the 2010 release lists them together and does not separate them by stratum.
Reading of the jar inscription: the 2010 release gives only the excavator's reading ('belonged to a high-level government official'); the full published reading was not located for this entry.

Sources

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, press release "Archaeologist discovers Jerusalem city wall from tenth century B.C.E.", 22 February 2010, as published by ScienceDaily. link excavation report
Mazar, E. and Mazar, B. 1989. Excavations in the South of the Temple Mount: The Ophel of Biblical Jerusalem. Qedem 29. Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University. link excavation report
Finkelstein, I., Herzog, Z., Singer-Avitz, L. and Ussishkin, D. 2007. "Has King David's Palace in Jerusalem Been Found?" Tel Aviv 34(2): 142-164. doi:10.1179/tav.2007.2007.2.142 link study
Mazar, E. 2006. "The Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem." In Maeir, A. M. and de Miroschedji, P., eds., "I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times": Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 775-786. link study

Corrected from the earlier edition of this page

Old entry puts the wall 'in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem'. The 2010 Hebrew University release locates it on the Ophel, 'between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount', which is outside the Old City walls.
Old entry gives 'approximately 3 meters high, 10 meters long'. The excavator's announced figures are c. 70 m long and 6 m high for the main section, with a 35 m x 5 m eastern section.
Old entry says it was 'uncovered in 2010'. Warren recorded the tower in 1867 and B. and E. Mazar excavated on the Ophel in the 1980s (Qedem 29, 1989); 2010 was a re-excavation and announcement.
Old entry lists 'Authentic 10th century BCE fortification' as settled. The 10th-century date is the excavator's, from sherds in a floor fill and gate typology; Finkelstein et al. (2007) put the fortification's use in the 8th-7th centuries BCE from Mazar's own earlier data.
Old entry says the location 'aligns precisely with' 1 Kings 9:15. That verse names a wall of Jerusalem but gives no route; the verses that actually name building on the Ophel wall are 2 Chr 27:3 (Jotham) and 33:14 (Manasseh).
Old entry cites 2 Chronicles 32:5 (Hezekiah's wall) with no explanation; nothing in the published 2010 finds ties this wall to Hezekiah's work.
Old entry date 'c. 1000 BCE' does not match even the excavator's claim (late 10th century, i.e. nearer 930 BCE on her scheme).
Old entry's 'Scholarly Consensus' box removed per house rules.

2024–2026 check incomplete: limited: this session's web-search quota ran out before this entry; 2024-2026 check done only via Crossref/Europe PMC and the Regev et al. 2024 PNAS paper, which does not sample the Ophel wall; Mazar's Ophel final reports (2015, 2018) were not located