Davidson Archaeological Park

The Jerusalem Archaeological Park, also called the Davidson Center site, lies south and southwest of the Temple Mount beside the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. Excavations led by Benjamin Mazar began in 1968 and revealed layers from the First Temple period to the Ottoman era. The most important remains date from the Herodian rebuilding of the Temple Mount around 20 BCE. They include the Herodian street at the foot of the Western Wall, paved with large limestone slabs and lined with shops, and the Robinson's Arch, the stub of an arch that once carried a monumental staircase to the Royal Stoa. Fallen stones from the Roman destruction in 70 CE still lie where they landed, and one is inscribed in Hebrew with a reference to the place of trumpeting. At the southern end, a broad flight of steps, with alternating wide and narrow treads, led pilgrims to the Hulda Gates, and ritual baths known as mikvaot are set among them. Above the Herodian remains, the park contains foundations of Byzantine houses and Umayyad palaces built in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Davidson Center, an interactive museum, uses a virtual reconstruction of the Temple Mount in Herod's time and exhibits of finds, and it explains the excavation chronology. Part of the egalitarian prayer platform at Robinson's Arch is managed separately. The park is open-air, with walkways and signage in English, Hebrew and Arabic, and has been conserved by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Jerusalem Development Authority. Surfaces are uneven stone, and the site is exposed to sun in summer, so hats and water are advisable.