by Joanie Margulies
This moat, now dry, was believed to have kept the first Crusaders from breaching the city of Jerusalem.
 |
The carved hand on the moat wall
(photo credit: IAA)
|
An ancient moat surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem was uncovered by archaeological experts with the Israel Antiquities Authority. This discovery was made as a contracting company prepared for planned infrastructure work for the city of Jerusalem.
Construction revealed the ancient moat, which measured approximately 10 meters wide and between two to seven meters deep. This moat surrounded the Old City of Jerusalem in its entirety. Just below this busy Jerusalem street lay a 1,000-year-old moat built to keep attacking enemies away from the city's walls. The moat was accompanied by handprints adjacent to the structure.
Zubair Adawi, the director of the excavations at Israel's Antiquities Authority, uncovered the moat and handprints underneath Sultan Suleiman Street. This street runs adjacent to the city walls, leading experts to believe that the moat was built to prevent enemies from breaking into the city of Jerusalem and invading.
"Moats, usually filled with water, are well-known from fortifications and castles in Europe, but here the moat was dry, its width and depth presenting an obstacle slowing down the attacking army,” Adawi said.
The city walls we see today in the old city were erected in the 16th century by the Turkish Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I. “The earlier fortification walls that surrounded the ancient city of Jerusalem were much stronger,” Dr. Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional Director at the Israel Antiquities Authority stated. “In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows, and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”
The site of the excavation on Sultan Suleiman Street (credit: ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY.)Why would ancient Jerusalem need a moat to defend itself?
Historically, moats were built to keep attackers away. This moat, now dry, was believed to have kept the first Crusaders from breaching the city. Historians from the age of the First Crusade placed the fighters at the walls of Jerusalem in June 1099. It took the fighters approximately five weeks to cross the waterway after tedious strategic planning, archaeologists involved with the excavation say.
After finally crossing, Crusaders were met with force and bloodshed by Jews and Muslims defending the city.
“Armies trying to capture the city in the Middle Ages, had to cross the deep moat and behind it two additional thick fortification walls, whilst the defenders of the city on the walls rained down on them fire and sulfur," Re'em said.
"As if this wasn’t enough, there were secret tunnels in the fortifications, some of them uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in previous excavations, whereby the city defenders could emerge into the moat and attack the enemy by surprise, and then disappear back into the city.”
“In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows, and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”
Dr. Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional Director at the Israel Antiquities Authority
As for the handprints; this remains an outstanding question to all. “Does it symbolize something? Does it point to a specific nearby element? Or is it just a local prank? Time may tell,” researchers say.
Joanie Margulies
Source: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-729562
No comments:
Post a Comment