2020/06/03 by Johanna Regev, Joe Uziel, Tehillah Lieberman +5 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Radiocarbon dating #Mount #Temple #Arch #Ancient history #Archaeology #History #Computer science
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233307
openalex publication_date 2020/06/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/06
Radiocarbon dating is rarely applied in Classical and Post-Classical periods in the Eastern Mediterranean, as it is not considered precise enough to solve specific chronological questions, often causing the attribution of historic monuments to be based on circumstantial evidence. This research, applied in Jerusalem, presents a novel approach to solve this problem. Integrating fieldwork, stratigraphy, and microarchaeology analyses with intense radiocarbon dating of charred remains in building materials beneath Wilson's Arch, we absolutely dated monumental structures to very narrow windows of time-even to specific rulers. Wilson's Arch was initiated by Herod the Great and enlarged during the Roman Procurators, such as Pontius Pilatus, in a range of 70 years, rather than 700 years, as previously discussed by scholars. The theater-like structure is dated to the days of Emperor Hadrian and left unfinished before 132-136 AD. Through this approach, it is possible to solve archaeological riddles in intensely urban environments in the historical periods.