A Luxurious Royal Estate from the First Temple Period in Armon ha-Natziv, Jerusalem

Abstract

In a recent excavation at Armon ha-Natziv, overlooking ancient Jerusalem, remains were uncovered of a royal estate from the second half of the 7th century BCE. Although the site had been dismantled and it appears that only a small portion of it has been exposed to date, there are several indications of its former grandeur. The excavations exposed three complete medium-sized decorated volute capitals, beautifully carved and excellently preserved. Dozens of fragments of adorned architectural elements were exposed nearby; they can be restored to compose a window frame with an ornamented balustrade of miniature pillars capped with decorated volute capitals. Together with fragments of ashlars bearing traces of paint, they all appear to originate from a luxurious palace or villa. A rock-cut latrine with a seat—a marker of wealth in antiquity—was uncovered above a septic pit; microscopic examination detected parasite eggs from the digestive system, along with pollen from a variety of plants that grew on the grounds. This article examines the status of this unique site among the other Judahite sites in the region, in which contemporaneous monumental architectural finds indicate an administrative or government-oriented status.

Keywords:

• Jerusalem
• Iron IIB–C
• Armon ha-Natziv
• Volute capitals
• Royal estate
• Ramat Rahel
• First Temple period
• Latrine

Acknowledgements

The excavation was directed by Yaʿakov Billig on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority between October 2019 and March 2020. The excavations were funded by the Ir David Foundation, the Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Municipality. The following individuals participated: Yivgenia Rabinovitz (area supervisor), Nissan Nehama (administration), Shai Halevi (field and drone photography, photogrammetric model), Efrat Cohen (photography), Or Zakaim (plans, window reconstruction), Shalom Kveller (artistic reconstruction), Itamar Ben-Ezra (preparation of map), Yulia Gottlieb (layout of plates), Dan Gill (geological advisor), Dafna Langgut (palynology and archaeoparasitology), Ehud Weiss (archaeobotany), Nitzan Ben-Melech (OSL dating), Yoav Vaknin (palaeomagnetism) and Ayala Amir (organic residue analysis). Much support and assistance was given by Amit Reʾem (Israel Antiquities Authority Jerusalem Region Archaeologist), Yuval Baruch (former Jerusalem Region Archaeologist), Yehiel Zelinger (scientific advisor in the Jerusalem Region), Joe Uziel (Israel Antiquities Authority), Yuval Gadot (Tel Aviv University) and Ronny Reich (University of Haifa).

Notes

1 Even deeper foundation trenches were uncovered in Area B2 at Ramat Raḥel, but these were 2.5 m wide and contained ashlar stones (Gross 2020: 78–87). These trenches belonged to a wing of the palace constructed in the third construction phase (the Persian period). Even though the trenches at Armon ha-Natziv have different proportions—they are deeper and narrower—they are the closest parallel to date.

2 A dense foundation of large flint stones was found at the bottom of the uncovered section of the eastern trench; it seems they were not as coveted as chalk and limestone.

3 The presence of a column inside a collecting vat has been documented in several wine presses from various periods in Jerusalem and its environs (Billig 2019), the purpose of which until now was unknown. The horizontal ledge positioned opposite the column in our vat, seems to prove its function suggested above.

4 The type of limestone from which these capitals are made is referred to, in Arabic, as mizzi meleke abyad—’white meleke (royal)’ hard stone. Indeed, this type of stone was used in Jerusalem throughout history as a building stone for public buildings. This Turonian formation was chosen for these purposes because its limestone bedrock is relatively soft and easy to quarry and dress. The stone blocks from which these fine decorative objects were carved and sculptured were chosen meticulously to be of exceptional high lithologic quality. They were very clean, dense and homogeneous, without any spoils due to natural weathering or minute irregularities due to fissures and cracks, which are otherwise quite common in this formation. We are grateful to Dr. Dan Gill, Senior Geologist (Emeritus), Geological Survey of Israel, for this information.

5 An exception is one of the reconstructed capitals of the gate at Hazor, decorated on both sides of the stone, which led to the suggestion that it had been set above a central doorpost of a double entrance (Yadin 1975: 168; Shiloh 1979: 21–25).

6 We studied only the stone finds uncovered by Yohanan Aharoni and located in the IAA storerooms and the Israel Museum, but not the finds from the renewed excavations at Ramat Raḥel.

7 A fragment of a small capital, similar to the Armon ha-Natziv capitals but decorated on only one side, was found in the Megiddo excavations (Shiloh 1979: Pl. 8:1–2). It remains unclear whether it was part of a balustrade, incorporated in a lavish building, or perhaps a piece of furniture.

8 A similar prominent and exaggerated design, albeit with more bands, appears in a miniature model of a temple found at Khirbet Qeiyafa (Garfinkel and Ganor 2012: 61, Fig. 15), dated to the 10th century BCE. It is therefore likely that doors as well as windows were designed this way.