Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem

N. Shalom; Y. Vaknin; R. Shaar; E. Ben-Yosef; O. Lipschits; Y. Shalev; Y. Gadot; E. Boaretto

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823

Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem

N. Shalom, Y. Vaknin, R. Shaar, E. Ben-Yosef, O. Lipschits, Y. Shalev, Y. Gadot, E. Boaretto

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Evidence of fire is one of the most important features for identifying and characterizing destruction events. Analysis of microscopic remains of fire has developed exceedingly in recent years, enabling archaeologists to examine new questions relating to the intensity of destruction events and to the circumstances of the creation of destruction layers. One of the most crucial events in the history of the Southern Levant is the Babylonian destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 BCE, which shaped the biblical narrative and theology for generations to come. Building 100 was an extraordinarily large and rich elite building, thoroughly destroyed during the Babylonian campaign. This paper presents a study of the destruction layer excavated within the rooms of the building. FTIR spectrometry and archaeomagnetic analysis were combined in the micro-archaeological study of the remains in order to create a detailed reconstruction of the destruction event. This reconstruction sheds new light on how the Babylonian destruction was manifested in reality in the elite buildings of Jerusalem.

Original language	English
Article number	105823
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	157
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823
State	Published - Sep 2023
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

This work forms a part of the PhD dissertation of N. Shalom. We would like to thank Eugenia Mintz for help with the laboratory work; Johanna Regev for sharing sediment samples for heat calibration and ash samples for the calcium carbonate atomic level order grinding curve; Daniella Bar-Yosef and Daria Leibin Graiver for shell samples; Lior Regev for fruitful discussions and advice; Efrat Bocher, field director of Giv'ati Parking Lot excavation, for assistance during fieldwork and sampling; Davide Levy from the Tel Aviv University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for performing XRD analysis; Yuval Tal for preparation of illustrations; and to the excavation team of Giv'ati Parking Lot for their hard work unearthing the finds presented in this paper. The study was supported by the Nathan Rotenstreich Scholarship for outstanding PhD students, a research grant from the Center for Research on Ancient Jerusalem, and the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science (Weizmann Institute). The excavation at Giv'ati Parking Lot, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park, conducted since 2017 by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, is funded by the City of David Foundation (Excavation license numbers: G-71/17, G-11/18, G-10/19, G-11/20). This work forms a part of the PhD dissertation of N. Shalom. We would like to thank Eugenia Mintz for help with the laboratory work; Johanna Regev for sharing sediment samples for heat calibration and ash samples for the calcium carbonate atomic level order grinding curve; Daniella Bar-Yosef and Daria Leibin Graiver for shell samples; Lior Regev for fruitful discussions and advice; Efrat Bocher, field director of Giv'ati Parking Lot excavation, for assistance during fieldwork and sampling; Davide Levy from the Tel Aviv University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for performing XRD analysis; Yuval Tal for preparation of illustrations; and to the excavation team of Giv'ati Parking Lot for their hard work unearthing the finds presented in this paper. The study was supported by the Nathan Rotenstreich Scholarship for outstanding PhD students, a research grant from the Center for Research on Ancient Jerusalem, and the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science (Weizmann Institute). The excavation at Giv'ati Parking Lot, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park, conducted since 2017 by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, is funded by the City of David Foundation (Excavation license numbers: G-71/17, G-11/18, G-10/19, G-11/20).

Funders	Funder number
City of David Foundation	G-71/17, G-11/20, G-11/18, G-10/19
Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University
Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science
Tel Aviv University

Keywords

Archaeomagnetism
Babylonian destruction
FTIR spectroscopy
Fire analysis
Iron age Jerusalem

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823

Cite this

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title = "Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem",

abstract = "Evidence of fire is one of the most important features for identifying and characterizing destruction events. Analysis of microscopic remains of fire has developed exceedingly in recent years, enabling archaeologists to examine new questions relating to the intensity of destruction events and to the circumstances of the creation of destruction layers. One of the most crucial events in the history of the Southern Levant is the Babylonian destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 BCE, which shaped the biblical narrative and theology for generations to come. Building 100 was an extraordinarily large and rich elite building, thoroughly destroyed during the Babylonian campaign. This paper presents a study of the destruction layer excavated within the rooms of the building. FTIR spectrometry and archaeomagnetic analysis were combined in the micro-archaeological study of the remains in order to create a detailed reconstruction of the destruction event. This reconstruction sheds new light on how the Babylonian destruction was manifested in reality in the elite buildings of Jerusalem.",

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author = "N. Shalom and Y. Vaknin and R. Shaar and E. Ben-Yosef and O. Lipschits and Y. Shalev and Y. Gadot and E. Boaretto",

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year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2023.105823",

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AU - Ben-Yosef, E.

AU - Lipschits, O.

AU - Shalev, Y.

AU - Gadot, Y.

AU - Boaretto, E.

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Destruction by fire: Reconstructing the evidence of the 586 BCE Babylonian destruction in a monumental building in Jerusalem

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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