Archaeologists have made a discovery of Biblical proportions: They report newly excavated ruins near Jerusalem are "the best example to date of the uncovered fortress city of King David." Extensive digging has unveiled a pair of structures, one of which may have been a palace belonging to the king; the other is believed to have been a storeroom that would have been used for holding taxes, which would have taken the form of agricultural products, they say. "This is indisputable proof of the existence of a central authority in Judah during the time of King David," researchers say.
The site of the Biblical battle between David and Goliath is now called Khirbet Qeiyifa. It was likely decimated in 980 BC during a battle with the Philistines, the Jerusalem Post reports. "This is the only site in which organic material was found—including olive seeds—that can be carbon-14 dated" to David's era, a rep for the Israeli Antiques Authority tells the Times of Israel. The paper adds that the site was referred to as Shaarayim, meaning "two gates," in the Bible; the site does indeed feature two gates. And its location would seem to suit royal requirements: "From here one has an excellent vantage looking out into the distance, from as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Hebron Mountains and Jerusalem in the east." (In other, more unworldly, archaeological findings, "vampire" graves have been unearthed in Poland.)
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