Reading Nehemiah 3.26, it is clear that the “Water Gate” and “the tower that lieth out” are separate points along the wall. It would appear now that the building was a storage facility connected to a large domestic or public building.
VALLEY GATE DRAGON SPRING JERUSALEM FULL
The only complete chamber was stacked full with large storage jars which is also untypical of gateways. I no longer believe that the building in question is a gate, as the chambers do not resemble those of Iron Age gateways. Excavating a Herodian (Second Temple period) mikveh in the Ophel area, 1975. The earliest mikvaot date to the first century BC. The connection between the “Water Gate” and the mikvaot is untenable as the “gate” belongs to the First Temple period and the mikvaot to the Second Temple period. This is a very uninformed statement, as Nehemiah 3 does not mention any temple, let alone Solomon’s Temple and the Book of Nehemiah is not part of the Torah (the five Books of Moses). It may have been called the Water Gate because of the plethora of mikvaot in the area.” The Jerusalem Post reports that “Mazar believes the area is described in the Torah in the verse about King Solomon’s Temple: “… and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower” (Nehemiah 3:26). Instead of investigating the possibility, she invited the media the next day to announce that she had discovered the Water Gate! See Jerusalem Post report of April 22, 1986. I showed my preliminary ideas about the gate to Eilat, indicating the location where to excavate in order to prove that it was a gate. Working with Professor Benjamin Mazar was always a great pleasure as he often bounced off ideas during the many “brainstorming” sessions we had. Leen and his dog Simba in the foreground, 1975. While working on the plans, I imposed symmetry on the remains and at that moment I thought that the structure excavated by Moshe Feuer could have been a gateway. When Eilat investigated the previously excavated area, she asked me to make the plans. Benjamin Mazar and his granddaughter Eilat, the excavations were expanded to the east where a large structure of the First Temple period was found. Some 10 years later, under the direction of Prof. I tried to excavate this area which is located on the other side of the road, but was stopped by the religious authorities who claimed that a Medieval Jewish cemetery was located there, which subsequently proved to be correct. While studying Warren’s plans of this area, it became clear to me that the excavated remains were connected with a large tower-like structure, dubbed by him “The Tower that lieth out” (Nehemiah 3.26). I note that the press release does not state that this is a gate but that “Mazar suggests” that it is a gate.” Some years ago it seemed that even those most sympathetic to her views did not follow her on this, but perhaps that has changed. “I’d be curious to know if there are any other archaeologists who agree with Mazar’s identification of the structure she excavated as a gate. Reporting on the inauguration, Todd Bolen asked the following question: Benjamin Mazar (with red hat) and Meir Ben-Dov, 1975. Leen (left) discussing the excavation results with Prof.
Benjamin Mazar as “The House of Millo”, mentioned in 2 Kings 12.20. Below the Herodian mansion, he discovered a substantial Iron Age structure that was tentatively identified by Prof. Moshe Feuer took over the supervision later on. My wife Kathleen also excavated in the same area. The site is well known to me as I supervised the excavations of a large Herodian mansion in this area in 1975. The site has remains from the Israelite, Herodian (dismantled), Roman, Byzantine and Ummayad periods.” Benjamin Mazar and in the 1980′s and onward, Eilat Mazar has further excavated the site. In a previous post we mentioned that “The site was first excavated in the 1970′s under the direction of the late Prof. The inauguration of a complex dating from the First and Second Temple periods on the Ophel has been widely reported, see for example here and here.
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