(PatriotWise.com) — An archeologist from Hebrew University claims he found evidence that the network of fortified cities around Jerusalem is over 200 years older than previously believed and could date from the time of King David, the Times of Israel reported.
The evidence presented in an academic paper published in the Jerusalem Journal of Archeology does not stem from a freshly excavated find but from years of combing through old archeological publications.
In his article, Professor Yosef Garfinkle of Hebrew University’s Institute of Archeology supports the theory that King David’s kingdom was a fully-developed realm, complete with roads that connected cities.
Garfinkle’s theory stands in contrast to the previous belief that because there is so little evidence of cities during the time of King David’s rule, the Biblical description of David ruling over a great kingdom may have been exaggerated.
In his academic paper, Garfinkle explores the archeological evidence of five cities from the time of David that were no more than a 36-hour walk from Jerusalem. Garfinkle writes that all five cities share the “same urban concept” and sit “on the border of the kingdom,” each with a main road that leads to Jerusalem.
According to Garfinkle, rather than sitting “in the middle of nowhere,” the five cities share roughly the same layout and “urban concept.” Each is surrounded by an outer wall with dwellings abutted against it on the inside. Three of the five cities include an internal casemate wall that runs parallel to the outer wall.
The sites also include several proto-Canaanite and Canaanite inscriptions, which Garfinkle claims indicate a centralized authority.
Since all five sites were independently excavated using various levels of archeological practice, Garfinkle’s paper is the first to link the five sites into an organized urban network.
Garfinkle dates the sites to around 1000 BC.
King David ruled during the Iron Age from around 1010 to 970 BC.
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