Biblical Archaeology Review - January-February 2018

36 January/February 2018

“Garbage is among humanity’s

prodigious physical legacies to those

who are yet to be born.”^1

If this statement applies to all cities on

earth, it is nowhere more relevant than to ancient Jeru-

salem. The city’s continued occupation since the Early

Bronze Age (c. 3000–2800 B.C.E.) has resulted in more

than fi ve millennia of trash. And while these discarded

remains can be discovered beneath the surface of the

entire city, immeasurable tons of smashed pottery ves-

sels, animal bones, coins, charcoal, seeds, glass fragments,

and other items curiously appear to have been amassed

together in Early Roman Jerusalem (fi rst century B.C.E.

Yuval Gadot

JERUSALEM’S DUMP. Excavations on the eastern slope of Jeru-

salem’s Southeastern Hill (Area D3)—outside the ancient city’s

walls—have uncovered an Early Roman landfi ll.

Jerusalem

and the

Yuval Gadot

Holy

Land

(

fi l l

)

Holy

Land

(

fi l l

)