The Yehud Stamp Impressions From the 1995–2005 City of David Excavations

Abstract

This paper presents nine previously unpublished Yehud stamp impressions unearthed during excavations at the City of David between 1995 and 2005. Eight of the nine stamp impressions were found on the eastern slope of the Southeastern Hill, most of them 200–250 m south of the Gihon Spring. A similar pattern can be observed in the larger collection of Yehud stamp impressions discovered by the Y. Shiloh expedition (1978–1985), where 75 of the 85 impressions were found on the southern part of the hill. Our conclusion is that in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, settlement on the Southeastern Hill was confined to the southern sector, probably because access to the spring was blocked and its waters were drawn on the southern side of the hill, at the southern outlet of the Siloam Tunnel.