Everything in Israel is about politics. But nothing is more intensely
political than archeology. That's because the moment you stick a shovel
in the earth of a place like Jerusalem and start digging, you are
inevitably going to encounter Jewish history – and that is something
that those who label Israel a colonialist enterprise intended to
disinherit the "indigenous" inhabitants cannot abide.
That is why Eilat Mazar, one of Israel's most distinguished and
important archeologists, remained controversial throughout her career.
Mazar, a professor at the Hebrew University's Institute of Archeology
who died this week at the age of 64, inspired critiques from
professional colleagues who didn't share her interpretations of her
work, as well as from Arabs who, as some told The New York Times
in 2019, denied the entire existence of ancient Jewish history. Indeed,
Mahmoud Abbas, the "moderate" head of the Palestinian Authority, has
claimed that there was no biblical temple on what Jews call the Temple
Mount, where Muslims subsequently built mosques, and that all Jewish
ties to places like the Western Wall throughout their capital are
fiction.
So denying the historicity of the finds that Mazar discovered at
places like the City of David National Park aren't merely academic
arguments, but go to the heart of attempts to delegitimize Israel's
existence. Thus, although a scholar and not a politician, Mazar's work
didn't just provide a fascinating look into Israel's ancient past. It's
an essential part of the answer to those who deny Jewish rights anywhere
in their homeland.
Mazar came by her interest in archeology naturally. She is the
granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, one of the pioneering figures in the
field and a president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She
assisted him on his digs along the southern and western walls of the Old
City, including the Ophel, the area between the City of David and the
Temple Mount, in the 1970s, which was made possible by the reunification
of the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.
But she would later become a major figure herself because of her own
historic finds in what was the site of the city during the time of
Davidic Kingdom some 3,000 years ago, just south of the current Old City
walls in the area known as Silwan. Though her work spanned decades, she
was principally known for discovering the site of what she believed to
be King David's palace in August 2005.
When I interviewed her only a few days after her initial
announcement, she described to me the long years of study, writing and
preparation before the dig began. But as she said, "Once I started to
excavate, it was as if I had written nothing. Now, the stones will
speak, not me."
And speak they did.
What she found was the remains of what must have been a huge building
for the era. When she dug underneath the structure, she found masses of
pottery that could be dated to the 11th and 12th centuries BCE, what
scholars call Iron Age I. That meant the building was constructed after
that, which placed it exactly in the time of David. The dating of the
material made it clear that it was not related to the Jebusite era.
Speaking of those scholars who have tried to argue that David is a
historic myth created by the Hebrew bible, Mazar said her discovery
proved that "this fantastic building is a big, obvious answer to those
who say Jerusalem was an unimportant settlement."
Other artifacts she found there further substantiated her
conclusions, including bullahs or seals that date to the First Temple
era with the names of figures directly mentioned in the Bible, which
also provide a rebuke to those who dispute the idea that the Bible is a
book of Jewish history, as well as the foundation of Jewish and
Christian faith. Those who wish to treat the Jewish presence in
Jerusalem as an alien intrusion have no response to artifacts like those
that mention a minister of King Zedekiah, as well as others that
arguably may well have belonged to King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah.
While her scholarship and the integrity of her digs could not be
seriously questioned, many critics took exception to the fact that, like
her famous grandfather, Mazar understood that the Bible was not merely a
source of religious or literary inspiration. It was also a vital source
of information about the history of the era. Indeed, it was through a
reading of a crucial verse in the book of Samuel II (Chapter 5, Verse
17), that she decided that if David had gone down from where he was to
his fortress, then Silwan was the spot where David's abode might be
found.
Mazar tried to stay out of politics, but it inevitably intruded into her efforts.
She was a leader in the effort to stop the vandalism and desecration
of the Temple Mount carried out by the Muslim Waqf, which administers
it, when they excavated parts of the ancient site with bulldozers and
then dumped the remains outside the city walls. She helped lead the
effort to create a sifting project in which those precious remains were
examined by volunteers; many important historical artifacts from the
Temple periods were found, although it's clear that many more treasures
were wantonly destroyed by the Waqf.
Mazar was also a voice seeking to preserve other archeological sites
like Robinson's Arch, which encompasses parts of the Western Wall to the
Temple. She also deserves credit for being willing to reach out to
American Christians who love Israel and to help make them understand
that preserving the Jewish history of Jerusalem was something important
to their faith, too.
Today, visitors to the City of David can see the excavated structure
that Mazar found, as well as a wealth of other material that she and
other archeologists uncovered. But critics of her work aren't interested
in these fascinating discoveries because anything that further
establishes Jewish ties to the area infuriates local Arabs, who say this
historical heritage is a hindrance to their efforts to redivide
Jerusalem and establish a Palestinian state there.
The effort to delegitimize the work of Mazar and her colleagues at
the City of David points to a basic problem: If you're going to deny
Jewish rights to the place where David and his descendants ruled their
ancient kingdom, then you can deny them anywhere in the country. And
that is what Palestinians have continued to do. Their attempt to treat
the City of David or even the Western Wall as Jewish myths, rather than
the beginning of Jewish civilization, is inextricably linked to their
refusal to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where
its borders might be drawn.
Mazar's colleagues have spoken of how she helped a new generation of
archeologists establish their own careers, as well as how she helped
blaze the trail for other women in a field that was once thought solely
the preserve of men.
For post-Zionist Jews and anti-Zionist opponents of Israel, Mazar's
amazing discoveries were a constant source of irritation. But she will
be remembered long after them for her role in proving the authenticity
of Jewish history. Thanks to her and the Americans who helped fund her
work, denials of Jewish ties to Jerusalem remain the moral equivalent of
flat-earth advocates. That's true even if they are legitimized by
contemporary advocates of critical race theory and white privilege,
which falsely seek to label Jews – the true indigenous people of the
land that was once the biblical Kingdom of Judea – colonizers. May her
memory be for a blessing.
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