Wall of Solomon’s Royal City Identified

Mazar’s excavation is actually part of a larger excavation that had been directed by her grand-father Benjamin Mazar, once president of the Hebrew University and a leading Biblical scholar, historian and archaeologist. He excavated south of the southern wall of the Temple Mount for ten years beginning in 1968, but then passed away in 1995, leaving most of the excavation results unpublished.

Eilat Mazar, herself an experienced archaeologist on the university staff, was appointed as her grandfather’s literary executor, charged with completing the publication of the dig led by her grandfather. She has already published several volumes of excavation reports. In addition, in 1986–1987 she undertook some excavations of her own to clarify and confirm certain aspects of the earlier excavation.