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2500-YEAR-OLD ARSON INVESTIGATION FROM THE BABYLONIAN DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
- jakefarrella
- Aug 8, 2023
- 2 min read
By Jake
8 August 2023
Photo by Shai Halevi. Excavations in the Old City's southeast can still tell us details about the Kingdom of Judah's fall and the Destruction of the First Temple, a seminal event in human history.
Twenty five centuries ago, the Kingdom of Judah's refusal to recognize Babylonian dominion resulted in Nebuchadnezzar II's order to destroy the ancient nation. After a thirty-month siege, the city and kingdom fell, resulting in the total destruction of the First Temple and entire city. After the destruction and slaughter, it seemed impossible that the city would ever be inhabited again. Today, the city stands but bears ancient scars of the event - both in the stories of the Babylonian Exile and loss of homeland as well as the physical ruins from 586 BC.
Pottery shards, superheated by the infernos set by invaders then undiscovered until today, shed light on the ancient event. Archeologists from Tel Aviv University studied a preserved layer of debris from fire in a ruined building and were able to use magnetic scans to uncover new information, including the starting points and movement of the fire. From the age of the shards and magnetic fields, the scientists were able to date the ruin to the period of the Babylonian siege, determine that the fire was started intentionally at multiple points, and that it burned on the upper floor at temperatures exceeding 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit). This high temperature caused the upper floor to collapse on the bottom floor, preserving a debris layer that is easier to study compared to other ruins.
Archeologists could conclude that the building was likely owned by a rich family of the time, due to its close placement to the First Temple. They were able to definitely state it was destroyed by arson, but not conclude with zero doubts that the arson occurred during the historic burning of the Old City. It's more likely than not, but ruins and shards can only go so far.
It's a paradox that the destruction of a building allows modern humans to know more about an event. But when that much time has passed and so much legend surrounds the event, it is imperative to supplement knowledge passed down over the millennia (and likely warped) with scientific findings. Perhaps in another 2500 years (4523 AD), archeologists will be poring over the ruins of a city we can't imagine being destroyed today. We certainly aren't at the end of history, and we owe our descendants an accurate historical record.
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