For Tisha B’Av, learn about the archaeological proof of Jerusalem’s destructions

In this week’s installment of The Times of Israel’s new Behind the Headlines online video series, ToI’s Jewish World and Archaeology editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaks with Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Joe Uziel about the destruction of ancient Jerusalem in honor of the Tisha B’Av fast day.

Uziel, who was recently named the new head of the IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls unit, headed up the excavations at Jerusalem’s City of David for the previous eight years. During this period he helped uncover a whole new section of the Western Wall and instituted new scientific techniques of excavation and analysis. Today, researchers can more securely date monumental structures in the ancient city and put ongoing debates to rest.

The video conversation with Uziel will be presented to ToI Community members this Wednesday July 29, at 1 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Israel. If you’ve not yet joined the community, you can sign up here.

Uziel will discuss new finds that have recently hit newspaper headlines, as well as the two major periods of widespread destruction in Jerusalem during the fall of the First and Second Temples.

In the coming weeks, ToI reporters and editors will be video-interviewing more influential individuals from a wide spectrum of fields and diverse topics for the series. Like The Times of Israel itself, the Behind the Headlines series aims to offer a fair, deep look at some of today’s burning issues and noteworthy personalities.

Israel Antiquities Authority excavation director Joe Uziel at the excavation site in Jerusalem’s Old City. (Yaniv Berman, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)

If you’d like to join the session with Uziel — it’s not too late. Just become a Times of Israel Community member today and you’ll gain access to this Wednesday’s session, along with all of our upcoming exclusive webinars. You’ll also gain an ad-free experience of the ToI site and apps, and a weekly insider letter from David Horovitz.

If you are already a ToI Community member, you’ll receive a link to the session by email on Wednesday.