Day 4

SUNDAY 13th DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: City of David and 1st temple period. (Also the Burnt House which dated to 70AD)

Spiritual Sites visited: City of David, Hezekiah's tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Broad wall 

Highlight of the day: Hezekiah's tunnel. Surprising how walking underground in the dark in water for about 40 minutes in something only a tiny bit wider than you, could be so awesome. I think Kerri would highly dispute this being a highlight, but I was feeling all archaeological at the time.

Lowlight of the day: More blisters.

Favourite quote/word: “I am a prophet” from Jeremiah the dodgy as animation in the first temple narration at the Ariel museum. It was so Last Days of Pompeii and Kerri and I found it hilarious but no-one else seemed to. There was even the Bible reference that Twilight uses so badly except it was shipping Bella/Jacob.

Favourite photo: Kerri and I before our descent into the tunnels.

Cultural-shock moment: Seeing the Army everywhere (except Hezekiah's Tunnel)

New food consumed: This amazing carrot and sesame seed salad.

Kerri joins the army temporarily.

Favourite purchase: a keyring with a light so I could go underground
The thing I lost today: Torch, which necessitated the above purchase. I found the torch again the next day.
Random act of crazy: I want to join the Israeli Army. It seems all they do is eat, loaf around, chat with their friends and visit historical sites. Plus they wear green.
Something I want to remember: Squishing my way through the tunnels.

Given that our theme for the day was Jerusalem in the time of David and of the first temple, our first historical site was the lookout at the top of what was believed to be the site of the palaces and early city of David. The excavations here have been the largest scale excavations in Jerusalem. I had forgotten that the city itself had been previously occupied by the Jebusites (Joshua 15:8) and was another example of the conquest tradition by the Israelites. The site itself had strategic significance in the water systems.


The borders of the old city were much closer towards the base of the Kidron Valley, and Mount Moriah (the site of the Temple Mount) is further north and also the site of Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22), but it was well and truly part of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period. I purchased some archaeological site reports on the excavation, after Gila had identified many of the findings.

We then walked underground into Warren's shaft which was much like the entry to the Daydream Mine, and very steep and slippery. I started getting very into the element of things when looking at the sites and taking pictures of the excavations. Fairly soon afterwards our groups separated into two, and the more adventurous of us were almost instantly immersed into almost knee deep water which was by no means as cold as Mittagong pool. It was in the dark, too. I was riveted by the experience, and although the water fairly quickly became shallower, we got to trudge for around 40 mins in the dark. Sometimes the walls were only a little wider or taller than myself, other times the walls seemed almost three metres high (apparently these were not this height always, but used as part of the draining of the tunnel). We kept a cracking pace as we went through, but it was not tiring. I did end up with a new blister on my foot though, which has been causing some problematic walking times.

In the background is Kerri's buddy who we thought was called Pam,

but we recently learned she is June.

Without a light it was incredibly dark. This was taken just at the beginning where there was a light.

I think this might have been the inscription found on the wall, but it was incomplete.

We went to the recently discovered pool of Siloam (John Ch 9) which I rather liked because up until the last couple of years, another site had been considered the authentic one, until a new discovery. I love the nature of archaeology and how new discoveries can rewrite existing thought patterns to shape our understanding of the world.

 Later we visited the Jewish quarter up in the old city. I really liked the colours and design of the streets, they are far more open than other parts of the city. Our first stop was the Ariel museum which had a model of the city in the first period that lit up and had other factors of coolness. Not so awesome was the audio-visual presentation which had Kerri and I giggling (and I think possibly frustrating others who were trying to stay fully engaged in it). As I indicated earlier, it was terribly 'Last Days of Pompeii' by including dodgy narratives based on the historical findings. The animation was hardly high calibre either. We had lunch in a fabulous place overlooking the city towards the Western wall and I had this most amazing carrot and sesame salad with felafels.

Afterwards we visited more archaeological sites, which were from the Herodian period and AD70. It was at this point that I started being struck by the heavy Roman influence of the architecture and other artefacts. I always knew of course that Judaea was a Roman province, but I don't think the implications of that really hit me. The Near Eastern influence was not as clear in the residential housing, though I suppose public architecture might have indicated that more. The Burnt House was the victim of the AD70 destruction, and as well as seeing the remains of the cellars of the house and associated finds, we watched a re-enactment film. It was a little better than the previous video. We then traversed our way underground again to the Herodian level and saw some private upper-class villas which were heavily reminiscent of Pompeii, even down to the carbonised wood and different styles of fresco and mosaic work.

By this point it was a little tiring and I was relieved to make it back to the hotel.