“Jerusalem’s ‘Roman Cardo’ Isn’t Roman After All”, headlined a March issue of the Jerusalem Post. From there, the story spread to other media, correcting earlier erroneous reports that Prof. Nachman Avigad had found part of the Roman Cardo in his excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
According to Prof. Avigad, the part of the Cardo he found should be dated to the Byzantine period, rather than to the Roman period.
In making the correction, the Jerusalem Post article stated that the part of the Cardo Avigad found had earlier been “presumed by all—including other archaeologists who had visited the site—to be a remnant of Aelia Capitolina, the city built by Romans on the ruins of Jerusalem.”
“The parts of the Cardo thus far discovered appear to have been laid in Byzantine times, rather than by the Romans. This is contrary to several reports in the popular press which identified the roadway as Roman. The pavement was laid on bedrock and the pottery associated with it is Byzantine. At one point a fill was discovered beneath the pavement which contained tiles of the second and third centuries A.D. Naturally, the pavement must be dated no earlier than the latest of this material.”
The Jerusalem Post calls the discovery of the Cardo “one of the most sensational archaeological finds in recent years.”
Professor Avigad now dates the find to the 4th–6th centuries A.D.
Did Professor Avigad himself misdate the Cardo at first? Not at all.
It’s just that he wasn’t talking for publication. The original stories which misdated the Cardo had been “leaked,” according to the Jerusalem Post, “by unauthorized sources.” The information did not come from Professor Avigad.
After he finished the season of excavation, Avigad called a press conference to announce that the earlier stories—all except the BAR story—had been mistaken.
Just to complete the record, we should state that the dating information (which in this detail has even now appeared only in BAR) did not come from Professor Avigad. After our story appeared, Professor Avigad wrote to ask us how we obtained our information, but, like other journalists, we must protect our sources, so we couldn’t tell Professor Avigad any more than we can tell our readers.
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Avigad Wins Israel Prize
Professor Nachman Avigad, Hebrew University archaelogist, has been awarded the Israel Prize for his archaeological achievements. The award was made April 21, Israel’s Independence Day.
Professor Avigad has led or participated in excavations at Beit She’arim, Masada, the Judean Desert, and—his current dig—the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
He is also head of the Archaelogical Council of Israel and a contributor to the Biblical Archaeology Review.
Raised in Austria and Czechoslovakia, Avigad came to Palestine in 1925. He has taught at Hebrew University since 1929, just one year after archaeology studies were added to the curriculum.
“Jerusalem’s ‘Roman Cardo’ Isn’t Roman After All”, headlined a March issue of the Jerusalem Post. From there, the story spread to other media, correcting earlier erroneous reports that Prof. Nachman Avigad had found part of the Roman Cardo in his excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. According to Prof. Avigad, the part of the Cardo he found should be dated to the Byzantine period, rather than to the Roman period. In making the correction, the Jerusalem Post article stated that the part of the Cardo Avigad found had earlier been “presumed by all—including other […]
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