Abstract:

This is the first of the final reports of the excavations at the City of David directed by the late Prof. Yigal Shiloh, following the interim report published as Qedem 19. It presents the assemblages of selected groups of finds from all areas and periods of the site, fully illustrated with photographs and drawings. The volume opens with an In Memoriam to Yigal Shiloh, a bibliography of his publications and a stratigraphic summary of Strata 1-6 by Prof. Shiloh. The large assemblage of imported stamped amphora handles from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods is published, with discussion of topics such as the contents and typology of the amphoras, the possible reasons for the decline in imports after the mid-2nd century BCE, and their origin according to neutron activation analysis. Chapters on coins of the Hellenistic through medieval periods, and worked bone and ivory artifacts from the Early Bronze Age through Byzantine periods (most from the Iron Age), follow. The publication of the glass fragments, most dating from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods, is of particular interest in view of the evidence for early glass-blowing in Jerusalem.