Jerusalem, the Garden Tomb

Yehiel Zelinger

10/05/2010

Final Report

During August 2007, a further excavation was conducted within the precincts of the Garden Tomb, north of Damascus Gate in Jerusalem (Permit No. A-5222; HA-ESI 118). The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Wyatt Archaeological Research Foundation of Tennessee, USA, was directed by Y. Zelinger, with the assistance of M. Kipnis (surveying) I. Berin (drafting) and volunteers from overseas.

The excavation was carried out south of a natural bedrock outcrop that General Charles Gordon identified in 1883 as Golgotha, within the precincts of the Garden Tomb. The aim of this season was to conclude the excavation of a floor at the base of an agricultural installation that had been excavated during the 2006 season.

A section of a white plaster floor, exposed during the previous season, was removed from the bottom of a round agricultural installation. The fill (thickness 0.4 m) beneath the floor contained soil and stones and reached bedrock level. As no diagnostic potsherds were found in the fill, the installation could not be dated.