Dr. Binyamin Mazar, prominent Israeli archaeologist, said today that he believed he knows where the western limits of King Solomon’s Jerusalem are located. He made the statement to a group of ministers and heads of institutions that have been financing his archaeological work near the southern wall of the Temple compound in Old Jerusalem. The excavations began shortly after Israel united the old city with the new in the June, 1967 Six-Day War. Prof. Mazar said Solomon’s Jerusalem was bounded by a thick wall that lies beneath pavements dating from the much later Herodian period that borders the southern wall of the Temple Mount. He noted that pottery of the Seventh Century BCE, the first Temple period, was discovered in soil used for landscaping the slope of the Herodian Temple. Dr. Mazar announced also that the first season of digging near the Temple wall ended yesterday. Digging will continue without interruption, he said, but yesterday was the deadline for findings that will be included in a publication to be issued shortly. New findings will not be announced, unless they are of exceptional importance, until the second season is ended next year, he said.
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