Strata: How Many?

How many years has it been since the first archaeological excavation in Jerusalem?

Answer: 152

In 1863, Louis Félicien de Saulcy broke ground on the first archaeological excavation in Jerusalem. Having previously journeyed through the area in the 1850s, he decided a return visit was called for. In June, he informed the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of the Institut de France in Paris of his intent to return to the Holy Land and excavate the Tomb of the Kings, the rumored resting place of the kings of Judah in the Kidron Valley. He set sail for the Middle East in October, and after extensive traveling and some delays, he began excavating the Tomb of the Kings in November, having received permission from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

The Tomb of the Kings is actually the tomb of Queen Helena of Adiabene, who converted to Judaism in the first century A.D. and moved to Jerusalem from her kingdom located in what is now northern Iraq. Her Jerusalem tomb and palace were recently featured in BAR.^a

De Saulcy’s crowning discovery was an inscribed sarcophagus that identified the person buried inside of it as a queen. De Saulcy misidentified these remains as the wife of a king of Judah. It would later be revealed that the sarcophagus and tomb, as well as the other burials and monuments in the Kidron Valley, dated to the Second Temple Period.