During November–December 2010, a salvage excavation was conducted at the foot of the glaçis at David’s Citadel, in the area of the moat (Permit No. A-6062; map ref. 22162–4/63151–3), prior to installing a pumping installation. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by O. Sion and S. Kisilevitz, with the assistance of R. Abu-Halaf (administration), M. Kunin (surveying) and S. Puni and N. Sapir (professional and logistic consultation).
At the foot of the glaçis in the northeastern corner of David’s Citadel, one square (c. 20 sq m) was excavated to a maximum depth of 2 m, and a modern refuse was exposed on the bedrock.
The bottom course of the glaçis was exposed in the excavation; it was built of haphazardly hewn boulders (width c. 1.5 m, height 1.35 m) with copious amounts of mortar in the interstices (thickness c. 0.15 m). The course was placed partly on the bedrock and partly on a bed of small fieldstones and mortar. The courses above the foundation were built of unworked fieldstones in dry construction (width c. 0.7 m, height 0.3 m). This is likely to indicate that the foundation course was set in place in an earlier building phase; however, this could not be ascertained due to the small-scale of the excavation.
The excavated fill contained modern refuse from the 1980s, as well as a few potsherds, ranging in date from the seventh century CE to the modern era.