Archaeologist: Strong Central Gov. in Ancient Jerusalem

Israeli Archaeologist Eliat Mazar is asserting that renovations recently completed date back as far as 3,000 years. This gives credence to the belief that the Holy Bible is not only a compelling but an actual record of history. She claims that the ramparts surrounding Jerusalem go as far back as King Solomon and demonstrate that Jerusalem was a dominant city with a cohesive central government. Mazar affirms that the evidence exhibits that Jerusalem had resources and manpower required to assemble such enormous defenses.
But this aspect is challenged among several experts. Mazar thinks that Hebrew Kings like David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem in the 10th century B.C. There are other archaeologists who encourage the notion that the rule under King David was merely a yarn and that there was not a strong government during that time period. Mazar held a press conference courtesy of the University of Jerusalem and related that her discovery is the "most noteworthy construction we have from First Temple days in Israel."
She feels that Solomon, King David’s son, built the defenses surrounding the city. These are the walls just excavated. She feels certain that this is the actual construction mentioned in the Book of Kings in the Bible. She also feels certain that this wall exhibits the power of a centralized rule because of the correlations a structure of that size would call for.
The fortifications also comprised a gatehouse and an extended segment of wall that's about 70 meters in length and is located right outside the present-day walls of Jerusalem's Old City. The fortifications are also right next the Noble Sanctuary.
The Old Testament affirms that Solomon erected the very first Jewish Temple at this site, but the temple was subsequently raized by the Babylonians; then rebuilt and renovated by King Herod approximately two millennia ago. Yet after that the Romans are said to have obliterated it in 70 A.D., so no one is certain it is still intact. Currently, the area houses 2 key Islamic buildings - the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque.
It is not that Mazar was the first archaeologist to unearth the wall. It was unearthed starting in the 1860s and also in the 1980s. However, she asserts that her dig was the only comprehensive excavation and that it was the first to show strong evidence for the wall's antiquity. Shards of pottery were located along the wall and helped Mazar determine the estimated construction date.
But Mazars conclusions, as mentioned previously, have met with a bit of censure. Aren Maeir, an archaeology professor from Bar Ilan University, requires that he be able to be shown the substantiation that the walls are as old as Mazar claims. He says that there are ruins as far back as the 10th century in Jerusalem but declarations that it was the axis of a formidable centralized kingdom are a bit of a reach. While some archaeologists feel that the story of King David and Solomon is only a tale, there are others who trust it is precisely fact. And so the debate rages on.

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