A prominent royal administrative center from the days of King Hezekiah about 2,700 years ago have been unearthed near the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.
The remains of the building, which dates to the 8th century BCE, was found during an archaeological exaction ahead of planned construction in the upscale southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Arnona where the embassy is located, the state-run archaeological body said.
![Imprint of a stamp with the inscription "[belonging] to the king," from the Judahite administration, in ancient Hebrew script. Photo by Emil Eljam/IAA.](https://static.jns.org/dims4/default/06f1a4c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1918x1080+1+0/resize/1000x563!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fk2-prod-jns-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F10%2FImprint-of-a-seal-with-the-inscription-To-the-King-of-Mishma-in-ancient-Hebrew-script.-Photo-by-Emil-Elgam-Israel-Antiquities-Authority.jpeg)
More than 180 stamp impress store-jar handles with Hebrew script were discovered during the dig, many marked “[belonging] to the king,” referring to the Kingdom of Judah.
The excavations reveal that the original administrative structure that existed on this site during the time of Hezekiah was completely destroyed, and shed light on how the military campaign of Sennacherib, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, affected the economy in the Kingdom of Judah, the IAA said.
“We discovered remains of a significant royal administrative center from the days of King Hezekiah, and perhaps even from the reign of his father, King Ahaz,” said Neria Sapir, Natan Ben-Ari and Benyamin Storchan, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “The center functioned in the last third of the 8th century BCE but was destroyed down to its foundations and buried under a massive heap of stones.”
The stone pile formed a platform upon which a subsequent structure was erected, holding a commanding view of all the nearby agricultural areas, the archaeologists noted.
“We interpret these dramatic changes as a statement by the Assyrian imperial government, intended to convey a political-diplomatic message to the surrounding region and make it clear ‘who is really in charge’ by overhauling the administrative structure and its function.”
At the same time, the Assyrians were still interested in the agricultural produce and taxes Judah could provide, so they allowed for the existence of an independent Judahite administration, the archaeologists said.
Ironically, the name of the present-day Arnona neighborhood means property tax in Hebrew.
“The fascinating discovery tells the millennia-long story of the Jewish people, who—despite crises and very difficult periods—have always known how to rise again, rebuild, and thrive,” said Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu.
