Exploring the Holy Land - 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund - David Gurevich
5. J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald as Pioneers in the Archaeological Research of Aelia Capitolina
Exploring the Holy Land - 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund - David Gurevich
Yana Tchekhanovets [+]
Israel Antiquities Authority
Doron Ben-Ami
Israel Antiquities Authority
Description
During the excavations in the Tyropoeon Valley in Jerusalem, carried out by the PEF under the direction of J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald in the 1920-s, a whole stratum defined by the excavators as a “Byzantine Low Level” was discerned. The stratigraphical setting of the structures, their orientation, architectural characteristics and décor and the rich finds assigned with this stratum have close parallels in the recently exposed peristyle building in the Givati parking lot excavations located only few dozen meters to the north. Apparently, both complexes belong to the Late Roman well-planned residential quarter of Aelia Capitolina, destroyed by the A.D. 363 earthquake. The reassessment of Crowfoot and Fitzgerald’s work in light of modern research clearly shows that they were the first to define the remains of the Late Roman living quarters of the city expanding to the south in the late third-early fourth century C.E.