These were the words of the archaeologist in charge of the current excavations of the City of David today. Our students were volunteering in the on-going archaeological work there and in the course of the day I had the chance to talk a bit with him. He showed me some of the newest excavations (on the north side of the “Pool Tower”), including significant remains from the 9th century B.C. Nearly a dozen seals from this time were discovered as well, inscribed with designs but not text. But these new discoveries continue to present more questions than answers, and now he’s not even sure that Hezekiah’s Tunnel was dug by Hezekiah. It’s not an issue of denying that Hezekiah made such a tunnel, but rather that everything is so much more complex than previously thought. The more tunnels, towers, and pools that are found, the more difficult it is for the archaeologists to piece it all together. This, of course, is because of the overall lack of information. This is a strange irony of archaeology: the less you know, the more you (think you) know.
We’ll be back tomorrow, excavating the “dead end shaft” excavated by Montague Parker and recorded by Vincent. Maybe we’ll find something new. In which case we’ll know less than we did before.