'Massive' ancient wall uncovered in Jerusalem

CNN ^ | updated 3:10 p.m. EDT, Fri September 4, 2009 | No author listed

[Not gonna take it anymore]

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.

The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it.

Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists.

"To build straight walls up 8 meters ... I don't know how to do it today without mechanical equipment," said the excavation's director, Ronny Reich. "I don't think that any engineer today without electrical power [could] do it."

Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority added, "You see all the big boulders -- all the boulders are 4 to 5 tons."

The discovered section is 24 meters (79 feet) long. "However, it is thought the fortification is much longer because it continues west beyond the part that was exposed," the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a news release.

It was found inside the City of David, an archaeological excavation site outside the Old City of East Jerusalem on a slope of the Silwan Valley.

The wall is believed to have been built by the Canaanites, an ancient pagan people who the Bible says inhabited Jerusalem and other parts of the Middle East before the advent of monotheism. Watch report on the discovery of the ancient wall »

"This is the most massive wall that has ever been uncovered in the City of David," Reich and Shukron said in a joint statement about the find. It marks the first time "that such massive construction that predates the Herodian period has been discovered in Jerusalem."

[Not gonna take it anymore]

It’s okay. I don’t mind being narced on. LOL

[what's up]

It appears to be part of a "protected, well-fortified passage that descends to the spring tower from some sort of fortress that stood at the top of the hill," according to the joint statement.

This could be the very shaft David and his men climbed up to defeat the Jebusites.

[Redbob]

""To build straight walls up 8 meters ... I don't know how to do it today without mechanical equipment,"

I can certainly imagine how it could be done;
build an earthen ramp up to the height the stone needs to go, drag it up the ramp on rollers (round logs), building the ramp higher for each succeeding course of stones.

When done, haul off the dirt from the ramp.

Simple, not easy.

[Snurple]

I agree. Simple answer...whoda thunk it. People love a mystery that’s why they constantly come up with new ideas on how the pyramids were built.

[hwkbeer]

There were Nephilim in the land in those days.The Bible clrealy states their were giants living there before Istael entered the land.

[NYer]

The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it.

[SunkenCiv]

Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification
(3700-year-old Canaanite 26-foot tall stone wall)
AP on Yahoo | 9/2/09 | Jen Thomas - ap
Posted on 09/02/2009 9:11:03 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2330418/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Just an update.

[Fledermaus]

I can’t wait for the headlines 3,000 years now: Massive Invisible Wall Found On Old US Southern Border.