In 2019, archeologists excavating in the “Givati Parking Lot” excavation in the City of David – the place where Jerusalem began – announced the discovery of a large structure, dating back some 2,600 years, to the end of the First Temple period of Jerusalem.
The structure, believed by archeologists to have served as a government / royal building, was found in a state of destruction, filled with pockets of ash and other remnants of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, at the hand of the army of Nebuchadnezzar.
The discovery affirms the Biblical account of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem:
“On the seventh day of the fifth month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the House of the LORD, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person.” — II Kings 25: 8 – 9
