Shimon Gibson
Shimon Gibson is Professor of Practice in History & Archaeology in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has conducted numerous archaeological projects in Israel, especially the southern desert region, and currently co-directs excavations on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. His principal research interests are landscape archaeology, the history of archaeology, and early Judaism and Christianity. He is the author of more than 100 research articles on a variety of subjects and spanning different archaeological periods, and the co-author of two scientific monographs on the antiquities of Jerusalem. A popular book on his archaeological work at Suba entitled The Cave of John the Baptist was published in 2004 (Random House, London). His most recent book is Seeking New Landscapes: One Woman’s Photographic Journey in April 1931 from Germany to the Middle East (UNC Charlotte Library 2021).
Presenter at
Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest 2023
Jerusalem in the Iron Age as Seen from the Western Hill
With very exciting archaeological discoveries emanating from excavations in recent years in the area of the City of David, our knowledge of Old Testament period Jerusalem has grown exponentially, and the history of this city is constantly being rewritten. However, Iron Age Jerusalem was much larger than just the City of David, and in the eighth century BCE it had expanded to the Western Hill–to the area of the traditional Mount Zion and as far north as today’s Citadel. This part of the Iron Age city continued to flourish until the Babylonian conquest of 586 BCE. So, what actually do we know about the urban history of the Western Hill of Jerusalem in the heyday of the Iron Age? This lecture will unravel many of the archaeological discoveries, some made in recent years.
Bible & Archaeology Fest XIX, November 18 – 20, 2016
Report from Mt. Zion: The Latest Archaeological Discoveries
This presentation will discuss the results of excavations conducted since 2005 on Mount Zion in Jerusalem by UNC Charlotte. The site is close to Zion Gate and had previously been excavated by Magen Broshi in the 1970s. Archaeological remains unearthed include domestic houses dating from the Iron Age, Early Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. The preservation of the Early Roman (first century CE) buildings is quite amazing, with the ground story rooms found with their ceilings intact (including a bathroom and mikveh). These palatial houses probably belonged to priestly families in the Upper City. Among the many finds was an unusual stone cup from the first century CE with a cryptic inscription; the writing resembles cryptic texts known from the Qumran caves.
