Holy lanDfillBIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 41overcome: First, how do we process the massive
amount of dirt in the landfill? This process alone
could easily consume all of our time and resources.
The second challenge involved navigating the sharp
slope. We realized that the landfill is composed of
at least 11 distinct layers and that these layers slope
downhill sharply from west to east. Given the steep
slope and the density of the finds, it became quite
difficult to peel off each layer separately. We devel-
oped a four-stage sampling strategy to overcome the
two challenges:
Stage 1: Two regularly sized excavation squares
(4 by 6 m) were excavated from the surface down.
From these, one out of every 20 buckets of fill was
removed and subjected to wet sifting (using a 0.5
mm mesh) in order to recover all finds that might be
associated with the garbage. Finds collected in this
way serve as a representative sample of the entire
depth of the garbage layer, without distinction into
layers. A metal detector was also employed regularly
at this stage.
Stage 2: The sections of the square were sketched
and photographed, and the distinct layers were
marked with string to serve as guidelines for the
subsequent stage of excavation.
Stage 3: Careful stratigraphic excavations were
conducted on 1.5-by-0.5-meter segments of these
sections, with the finds recovered from each distinct
layer registered separately.
Stage 4: The buckets from each distinct layer were
subjected to different methods of sifting: wet sifting
(0.5 mm mesh), dry sifting (1 cm mesh), or flotation
(i.e., using water to remove dirt from objects, allow-
ing them to float and be separated). By doing this,
we secured the retrieval of a representative sample
of the variety of items making up the landfill.
Our systematic sifting proved to be valuable. Wecan also conclude with confidence the presence of
materials that are now absent (like building stones)
and scarce (like wooden beams or metal and glass
objects). Such materials had secondary value and
were typically recycled. So while we did not find
many of them in the landfill, we found a lot of sup-
porting evidence that they had been there at one time.
A team of specialists is still analyzing the finds,
but a preliminary survey of the excavated objects has
already revealed some interesting results. First, theBurnt to a Crisp
A
round 280 samples of charred wood were collected from the Jerusalem
landfill and underwent a dendroarchaeological investigation. The samples
were cut using razor blades and examined under a microscope. Dendroarchaeo-
logical investigations hold great potential for the reconstruction of ancient envi-
ronments, both natural and cultivated. They also illuminate aspects of everyday
life, such as building construction and object manufacture, as wood is a common
and accessible raw material. In the ancient world, wood served as the main
source of energy and was widely used for various crafts. Despite the large num-
ber of archaeological excavations that have been conducted in Jerusalem over
the past century, few dendroarchaeological investigations have been undertaken.
This charred material came from the ashy remains of wood used to fuel
ovens and kilns, which were discarded in the city’s landfill. The fuel was
composed of mainly agricultural refuse in the form of roots and tubers, as well
as pruned branches of fruit trees, mainly olive, fig, and vine. Previously, the
agricultural activity around the city was assumed to be restricted to viticulture
(grapes) due to the high frequency of vine presses and the relative scarcity of
oil presses dated to the Early Roman period in that area.^1 However, these den-
droarchaeological remains, combined with textual evidence, indicate that the
city’s agricultural hinterland was largely devoted to olive and fig horticulture,
with an unknown scale of viticulture.
The few charred coniferous tree remains detected within the assemblage
likely originated from local buildings that were demolished and/or destroyed
by fire, whose debris was later cleared to the city’s landfill. Charred remains of
sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus) and the genus tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), which
were also employed in construction and artifact manufacture, reached the
landfill in the same manner.—Helena Roth, Tel Aviv University(^1) Eyal Baruch, “The Economic Hinterland of Jerusalem in the Herodian Period,” Cathedra 89 (1998),
pp. 41–69 (Hebrew with an English abstract).
SPLENDID SPOON. Found in a garbage layer of the City
of David in 2013, this spoon probably would have been
used for mixing cosmetics or medicine. Dating to the
Early Roman period, its leaf-shaped flat bowl is decorated
with concentric circles and a simple, three-leaf rosette
motif. Similar spoons were found at other excavations in
the City of David and in Jerusalem, such as the Jewish
Quarter and Temple Mount, as well as at Masada and
Caesarea. Interestingly enough, this type of leaf-shaped
rosette-decorated spoon is unknown outside of Israel.
COURTESY YUVAL GADOT