In first, researchers find where Jerusalemites prayed before Temple became only game in town
Archaeologists say unique City of David structure, which contains a standing stone, altar and other facilities, was abandoned in the 8th century BCE during a religious reform
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Researchers believe an ancient multi-room structure uncovered near Jerusalem’s Old City was likely used for ritual and worship nearly 3,000 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Tuesday, marking the first such find of a religious site practically down the street from the biblical First Temple while it still stood.
The 220-square-meter (2,370-square-foot) structure, dating from the 8th century BCE, “features eight rock-hewn rooms containing an altar, a standing stone, an oil press, and a winepress,” the IAA said in a statement about the well-preserved site, which was seemingly boarded up during an ancient crackdown on worship outside the Temple Mount. Standing stones are upright stones placed in the ground associated with religious ceremonies.
Researchers believe the site to be the only known ritual structure dating from the period of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and one of “very few found in the land of Israel,” according to the IAA.
The structure was likely “used for ritual purposes while the Temple still stood on the Temple Mount, just a few hundred meters away,” the authority said.
The City of David, an archaeological park adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City in the Silwan neighborhood, is considered by most scholars to contain a portion of the ancient core structures of Bronze and Iron Age Jerusalem and is an important site for biblical archaeology.
The building was first excavated in 2010, although a section of the structure had been uncovered by British explorer Montague Parker in 1909, who excavated at the site over several seasons in his search for the Ark of the Covenant.
Although the structure was found “a few years ago, you continue to excavate and find things, it takes time” to produce results, excavation director Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
The archaeologists found the building basically preserved in situ, a rarity for excavations from the First Temple period. “It was closed off… nobody knew about it, nobody touched it, for so many years,” he said.
The findings from the structure were published this week in an article, “Evidence of Worship in the Rock-Cut Rooms on the Eastern Slope of the City of David, Jerusalem,” in the Israel Antiquities Authority journal ‘Atiqot, authored by Shukron, along with Liora Freud, Helena Roth and Reli Avisar from Tel Aviv University and Efrat Bocher from the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center.
In the paper, the authors suggest that the building was used by residents of Judah for cultic or religious practices but then was walled off and abandoned during a religious reform in the 8th century BCE.
“The structure ceased to function… possibly as part of King Hezekiah’s religious reform,” Shukron said.
In the Biblical account, King Hezekiah initiated changes to centralize worship on the Temple Mount, leading to ritual sites around the Kingdom of Judah being abandoned. The find at the City of David was likely one of these abandoned centers, Shukron said.
“The Bible describes how, during the First Temple period, additional ritual sites operated outside the Temple, and two kings of Judah –- Hezekiah and Josiah -– implemented reforms to eliminate these sites and concentrate worship at the Temple,” he said.

“When we began excavating… we discovered that the site had been sealed with fill from the 8th century BCE, indicating it had fallen out of use during that time,” Shukron added. “The standing stone we uncovered remained upright in its original place, and the other rooms in the structure were also well-preserved.”
Each room in the building served a different purpose. In addition to rooms dedicated to producing oil and wine, one room contained “a carved installation with a drainage channel,” likely used as an altar, while another room contained “mysterious V-shaped carving marks” etched into the floor, which “may have served as a base for a tripod –- an installation with three legs used for ritual activities,” according to the IAA.

Another room contained the large standing stone, which was likely used for ritual activities. In a small cave near the edge of the structure, archaeologists found a cache of objects, including “cooking pots, jars bearing fragments of ancient Hebrew inscriptions, loom weights, scarabs, stamped seals with decorative motifs, and grinding stones used for crushing grains,” the IAA said.
A spokesperson told The Times of Israel there were plans to open the site to public viewing, but a timetable remained unclear.
When asked about further research on the building, especially due to its unique, preserved nature, Shukron noted that “there is always the possibility of finding more, there are always surprises.”