The tomb of King David

This morning we had a tour with the district archaeologist of Jerusalem at King David's tomb. It was interesting to hear what they have found there and what he thinks about it.

We went in to see the sarcophagus, it was separated into men and women sections.

Inside the building it doesn't look like a typical burial tomb, so the question is where were they actually buried. It was suggested that this would be the site of burials for the later kings.

Outside in the courtyard he explained how they could tell the different eras that built here because of the different stones that are used to build. The large ones at the bottom are Roman and may correlate with a building that is recorded that Herod built at the site of the tombs.

 On only a couple accounts have there been an idea that there is a cave underneath the area which is actually the tomb. He was telling us that they did some excavations because of installing a pipe and in the process he found stones that may have been covering a cave, in one of the spots where it was recorded that it should be, but wasn't able to excavate it completely. Ground penetrating radar shows that there is a cave under, the nature and contents haven't been confirmed.  One of the sources says that the tomb extends to under the Greek Orthodox Cemetery, but that been confirmed either.

It is exciting to hear about these types of thing! Too bad that it is so difficult to actually excavate these things because of the religious tensions.