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B. Frenkel/Courtesy of Gabriel Barkay

PROTECTING JERUSALEM. During the Ottoman period (1516–1917), Ketef Hinnom was the site of a fortified watchtower known as Qasr el-Ghazal (“Fort of the Gazelle”) that guarded the southern approach to the Holy City. Soldiers stationed at the fort used the hill’s ancient burial caves as storage areas for arms and munitions. In one of the caves, excavators found these Turkish rifles from the end of the 19th century. Other finds included military insignia and buttons, porcelain coffee cups and smoking pipes.