Team Of Archaeologists Reportedly Make Incredible Biblical Discovery

Archaeologists believe they have discovered wooden beams that were burned during the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the preserved wood was found during a recent dig at the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David.

“Discovered during excavations at the Givati Parking Lot, the thick beams most likely formed part of the roofing of an inner courtyard. Researchers believe that plaster covering the building’s walls melted during the intense fire, covered the charred wood and helped preserve it for approximately 2,600 years,” Israel’s official X account wrote.

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The IAA’s Dr. Johanna Regev, who is studying the beams, said: “It is very rare in Israel to find wood with such a large number of growth rings. Here in the City of David, we found thick beams with many rings, offering significant research potential, with more growth rings enabling higher dating resolution.”

“Until now, we could date finds within a range of hundreds of years,” she said. “Now, we can attain much greater precision, narrowing the dating range down to as little as 10 years.”

According to the IAA, Jerusalem’s returning residents, as they began to rebuild the city, probably made a deliberate decision to preserve the memory of the destruction by leaving behind remains that tell the story of the catastrophe.

“The concept of a landscape of memory is familiar from many cultures around the world,” said Dr. Yiftah Shalev, who is directing the excavation on behalf of the IAA alongside Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University.

“Preserving memory is a human need, seeking to preserve what once existed,” Shalev said, according to The Times of Israel.

“Here we see it in its clearest form — a deliberate choice to leave ruins in place as a testament to the destruction and build the new layer over them,” Shalev added.

Burned wooden beams from First Temple-era destruction uncovered in Jerusalem

Thick wooden beams burned during Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 BCE were preserved beneath melted plaster in the City of David, offering rese…https://t.co/hegGmKgsEY pic.twitter.com/njeTfd9nHh

— Ynet Global (@ynetnews) July 20, 2026

The Times of Israel noted:

The annual Tisha B’Av fast is generally considered the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, said to have occurred on the same day, centuries apart, and the exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel.

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The First Temple, built by the biblical King Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. The day also marks a number of other historic calamities that have befallen the Jews.

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