The Archaeology of Early Jerusalem: From the Late Proto-Historic Periods (ca. 5th Millennium) to the End of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 B.C.E.)

This essay is a brief survey of the archaeological sequence of the city of Jerusalem between the end of the Prehistoric (Neolithic) period until the end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 b.c.e), a time-span of roughly 4,000 years (for a more detailed survey, see Maeir 2000 [including additional references], with some updates in Cahill 2003). Not all periods are well-represented from an archaeological point of view, in part due to the intensity of the activity in the city during later periods. Nevertheless, these finds offer us an opportunity to compose a cautious understanding of the early history of this fascinating city. This survey will include archaeological finds relevant to these time-periods uncovered in Jerusalem and in the immediate surroundings, up to a radius of approximately 3 km from the ridge extending toward the southeast of the Temple Mount, known as the City of David. This latter area represented the settlement nucleus of the city in the periods included in this survey.