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SHALOM KWELLER, CITY OF DAVID

WEST SIDE STORY. During the eighth century BCE, the western part of the City of David underwent considerable expansion. A luxurious two-story edifice (Building 100) excavated in the Givati Parking Lot was likely a reception hall used for official ceremonies and social gatherings. Serving Jerusalem’s ruling elite, it may be an example of a biblical “chamber” (e.g., 2 Kings 23). In the building’s final destruction, dated to the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 586, archaeologists found numerous seals and seal impressions as well as fine drinking vessels, storage jars that held vanilla-flavored wine, and ivory plaques likely used to decorate the expensive furniture of Jerusalem’s wealthiest inhabitants.