Unearthing a single unique find or deciphering a significant inscription can bestow archaeological immortality on the finder. Nahman Avigad discovered many rare artifacts and deciphered many inscriptions in his time, but it is Jerusalem’s thriving Jewish Quarter that is his living legacy. For 19 years before the 1967 Six-Day War, the Quarter had suffered neglect and outright destruction under its Jordanian rulers. Coming under Jewish control for the first time in 1,900 years, the Old City of Jerusalem, in which the Jewish Quarter is located, presented a historical archaeological opportunity. Work soon commenced south of the Temple Mount, at […]
