Holy lanDfill
38 January/February 2018to the fi rst century C.E.) to form what seems to be
one of the world’s earliest landfi lls.
While Jerusalem may be a shining city on a hill,
the designation of that holy hill’s slopes for the city’s
garbage disposal completely altered the landscape of
Jerusalem’s eastern border, the Kidron Valley and for
centuries left the western slopes of the Kidron unin-
habited, outside of the developed city and its walls.
In fact, only in the latter part of the 20th century
C.E. did these slopes, which are the eastern slopes
of the ancient City of David and the modern Silwan
neighborhood, once again become inhabited. This
means that for nearly 2,000 years, the western slopes
of the Kidron remained unpopulated.
Many archaeologists working in Jerusalem over
the past century have avoided these layers because
they are an archaeological gamble. Digging steep
slopes demands a considerable investment of time
and energy; what they might contain is unknown,
and their potential value was not well understood.
And after all, it’s garbage! The ancient residentsthrew the contents of this area away for a reason.
What possible good could come from digging in
2,000-year-old trash?
Our present excavation at the eastern slopes of
Jerusalem’s Southeastern Hill (Area D3)—also known
as the “City of David” and present day “Silwan,”
in an area that today is part of the City of David
National Park—puts the spotlight on these layers of
Jerusalem’s ancient garbage.
One thing has not changed since antiquity—people
produce waste. Things that our ancient predecessors
threw away, such as food, furniture, goods, and sup-
plies, are a refl ection of their daily lives and habits.
Jerusalem during the fi rst century C.E. was a
place of political turbulence and social unrest that
eventually culminated in its destruction in the year
70 C.E. This was also a time of growth when Jeru-
salem swelled to an unprecedented size, expanding
to include three sectors—the Upper city, Bezetha,^2
and the Lower city. Economically and politically,0 500 ft
N
outer city wall
outer city wall
inner city wall
KIDRON VALLEY
CITY OF DAVID
OPHEL
Temple Mount
Gihon
SpringSiloam
PoolArea D3
HINNOM VALLEY
Ancient Seeds of Knowledge
M
ore than 11,000 seeds and plant parts from the Jerusalem landfi ll were
identifi ed. To collect these remains, the excavated material had to be
sieved. For the archaeobotanical remains that had been charred, a fl otation
machine separated the botanical remains from sediment, and the charred
remains fl oated into empty netting. After sieving and fl oating the sediment, the
archaeobotanical remains were examined using a microscope and compared
to known plant types.
Our plant fi nds can be divided into six groups: cultivated grains, weeds,
cultivated legumes, fruits, other edible plants including wild legumes, and other
useful plants, including plants used for medicinal purposes. An impressive
amount of uncultivated remains was discovered, likely because the area served
as a garbage mound.
There is evidence that people who produced this waste consumed a varied
diet of carbohydrates, proteins, and sugar and oil sources. A number of fruits
were found, including grape (Vitis vinifera), olives (Olea europaea), fi gs (Ficus
carica), and pomegranates (Punica granatum). Pomegranates do not grow
in the wild in the southern Levant and were, therefore, considered a luxury
product. These fi nds illustrate Jerusalem’s wealth during this time.
Since chaff was not found in the landfi ll, this indicates the plants already had
been harvested, threshed, and winnowed prior to their arrival at the garbage
mound. These were likely the remains of foods that had been prepared for meals.
A large quantity of weeds in comparison to cultivated grains (43:142) was
observed. In ancient food preparation, after winnowing, the grains would be
sorted by hand or sieved to separate them from the edible grains prior to
cooking and grinding. Due to the large quantity of weeds in comparison to the
cultivated grains, we suggest the landfi ll also received the unwanted weeds
from the stage after winnowing and prior to cooking.—Ilana Peters and Ehud
Weiss, Bar-Ilan University