The Evaluation of F.J. Bliss and A. Dickie's Excavations in the City of David and Tyropoeon Valley in Jerusalem, in the Light of Recent Excavations

F.J. Bliss and A. Dickie excavated on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, in the years 1894-1897. The excavators directed their activities to Mount Zion, to the Tyropoeon Valley and to the southern part of the south-eastern hill, identified with the City of David, with the aim to locate the southern city walls of Jerusalem. The excavations made some important discoveries, among which should be mentioned city-walls of the Second Temple period, as well as from the Byzantine period; the main street of the city, paved in stone, with the main drain under it, from the Second Temple period, along the Tyropoeon Valley; the Siloam Church and parts of the Byzantine Pool of Siloam on the southern tip of the City of David, and additional discoveries.
The present author has conducted excavations in the City of David and in the Tyropoeon Valley to the west of it in the years 1995-2010. Some of the excavation areas were located adjacent to those covered by Bliss and Dickie, and some even congruent to them. This paper evaluates Bliss and Dickies work, discoveries and conclusions in the light of the discoveries and conclusions of the author's excavations