ReViews: Excavating in the Shadow of the Temple Mount: A Family Affair

Discovering the Solomonic Wall in Jerusalem: A Remarkable Archaeological Adventure

By Eilat Mazar (Jerusalem: Shoham Academic Research and Publication, 2011), 174 pp., 213 illus., $39.95 (hardcover)

Eilat Mazar’s relationship with the archaeology of Jerusalem goes back to the time when as an 11-year-old girl she accompanied her grandfather, the famous Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, to the excavations he directed near the Temple Mount. Her professional involvement with Jerusalem started when she participated in the City of David excavations directed by the Hebrew University Professor Yigal Shiloh. Since then, Dr. Mazar has been engaged with excavations in Jerusalem, concentrating mostly on the area known as the Ophel, the area between the City of David and the Temple Mount. Her present book is devoted to a particular segment of the Ophel excavation.

The book is directed at the lay reading public and was written shortly after the conclusion of the latest excavations of the fortification complex at the foot of the Temple Mount. The trigger for writing this book was the preparation of the site for opening to the public.