The Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av takes place this week, when the many calamities that have befallen God’s people throughout history are remembered and commemorated. One of the earliest tragedies associated with Tisha B’Av is the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. at the hands of the Babylonians.
Now, The Times of Israel reports that rare, remarkably well-preserved wooden beams burned during the destruction of the First Temple have been found, offering new insight into this pivotal event in Jewish history just ahead of the day that commemorates it.
The beams, made of sycamore wood, were unearthed during a recent dig at the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, in the Givati parking lot, as part of excavations conducted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University. The antiquities authority said. Researchers posited that they served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple Period.
During the destruction of the Temple, which is annually commemorated on Tisha B’Av, the beams likely collapsed onto the floor and were covered by the plaster cladding of the building’s walls, melted by the fire, excavation co-director Efrat Bocher said. She added that this plaster seal is what ultimately enabled their exceptional preservation.
“We are just before Tisha B’Av,” Bocher said, “This discovery makes you feel that you are witnessing the very moment of destruction, the moment when it all happened. It’s deeply moving.”
The IAA noted that finding wood preserved in such condition is extremely rare. Researchers also uncovered a sample from a coniferous tree within the Temple’s destruction layer. Its clearly visible growth rings, combined with radiocarbon dating, will allow researchers to date the wood with far greater precision, narrowing the estimated age from a range of centuries to just a few decades.
The First Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 B.C.E., while Tisha B’Av also commemorates the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E. The archaeological findings suggest that when the Jewish people returned after the First Temple’s destruction, they intentionally left the burned remains in place and built over them—preserving the memory of the Temple’s destruction in much the same way Tisha B’Av continues to preserve that memory today.