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Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City
A spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval
“A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.”
—Washington Post
In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past.
In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above.
Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.
“A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian’s penchant for detail and a journalist’s flair for narration.”
—Washington Post
In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past.
In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above.
Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.
480 pages, Paperback
Published September 26, 2023
182 people are currently reading
1454 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Lawler
9 books65 followersAndrew Lawler is a contributing writer with Science and contributing editor for Archaeology with more than thirty years full-time experience as a journalist and author. His stories have also appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic, Discover, Audubon, American Archaeology, Columbia Journalism Review, Slate, Orion, The Sun, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, as well as several foreign publications. He is the author of more than a thousand articles, and his work has appeared twice in The Best American Science and Nature Writing. He has twice won the Gene S. Stuart award for archaeology reporting, and was awarded the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship (nine months) and the Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship (two months research/two months writing). Simon & Schuster published Lawler’s book, Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization, in December 2014, and Random House will publish his second book, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, in June 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
January 29, 2022
3.75
There seems to be a theme to the non-fiction books I've read recently. It's entirely unintentional, of course, but interesting nonetheless: "Below the Edge of Darkness" was set deep underwater. "Indianapolis," likewise, though not so deep (and far more tragic). And now this book. As the title and subtitle indicate, Lawler offers a history of the many excavations that have been made to uncover what lies under the ancient city of Jerusalem. This topic by itself would appeal to me: I enjoy reading ancient history and I've had the good fortune of seeing some of the sites discussed here. What takes "Under Jerusalem" well beyond "ancient history" is how his book explores the many contentious -- often explosive -- political, historical, cultural, and religious questions that are at play in every single dig undertaken or even proposed.
I was struck time and again by how deep -- literally deep, as in hundreds of feet below ground -- history lies beneath the streets of the current city. Massive structures the size of football fields have been discovered in digs beneath a row of humble shops and homes: "Large stones turned out to be the top of a tower with twelve-foot-thick walls. It measured forty-five feet by fifty-five feet, nearly as large as the base of the Washington Monument." Remarkable discoveries, yes, discoveries come encumbered by meaning.
Mark Twain (who, with characteristic restraint, described Jerusalem as "mournful, dreary, and lifeless," and its inhabitants as "ignorant, depraved, superstitious, dirty, lousy, thieving vagabonds"), astutely observed, "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice." Historical narratives everywhere necessarily express one thing at the expense of others. Historical narratives in Jerusalem, however, take that up several notches.
Consider the decisions that need to be made (and who makes them): Where to dig, how far down to go, what to dig past and what to stop at and examine, what to publicize and what to suppress, how archaeological findings are described, what the funders want to hear (Lawler quotes Israeli historical geographer Ronnie Ellenblum, “Archaeologists can be slaves to those funding their digs... Some of them are like dear brothers to me, but they don’t even know when they sell their souls.”). All of these questions take on added weight in Jerusalem. As an Indiana University researcher quoted in the book put it, "Dead people are pretty nonjudgmental. But practicing archaeology today amounts to activism -- whether we intend to be activists or not. We are messing with people's heritage." Or as an Israeli archaeologist more succinctly put it, all excavation work is "connected by its umbilical cord to politics."
There are so many points of contention. Is the dig being conducted to provide evidence that Jews have been in Jerusalem longer than Arabs? Are findings that support a far longer presence of Arabs being suppressed? Is the excavation meant to undermine Scripture? To support it? ("Archaeological finds that bolstered a particular belief were welcome; those that did not could be dismissed or even attacked as false.") What is to be done if human remains are found? Digging up graves and moving bodies can be seen as illegal or blasphemous, and numerous riots (Jewish and Muslim) have broken out over the matter. Was Jerusalem during the reign of David and Solomon as grand and glorious as the Bible and lore suggest, or was it something something really quite unremarkable? Did David and Solomon even exist? Are claims about the age of this or that find being exaggerated -- for personal gain or because f an agenda? Who has the legal right to approve or conduct an excavation?
In "Under Jerusalem" we encounter famous people (Twain, Melville, Flaubert, presidents, prime ministers, and PLO leaders, a Rothschild or two, even Abraham Lincoln, who, moments before he was assassinated, told his wife that he longed to see the Holy City), mystics and mediums, religious leaders seeking to undermine scientists and scientists doing the same to priests, rabbis, and imams, Arab Israelis whose homes or stores are damaged by digs being secretly conducted beneath them, drunken monks, clerical members of Christian sects coming to blows over a very small space, would-be Indiana Joneses, evangelical Americans who want to discover the ruins of the Second Temple so they can hasten the Second Coming, fundamentalist Jews who want to demolish the Muslim Dome of the Rock and replace it with a Third Temple and thus bring on the coming of the Messiah, and on and on.
And indeed, we meet numerous individuals who seek the lost Ark of the Covenant (a Rothschild was one), and one or two who claim to have actually found it (one claimed that the evidence was stolen by a Russian woman spy), or the crown, sword, and ring of Solomon, ancient scrolls in perfect condition, and even the very stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. Another, a fundamentalist Christian nurse anesthetist from Tennessee named Ron Wyatt, claimed he heard an angel (or it might have been Jesus himself) blessing him as he dug. He said that "samples of [a] black substance" he had discovered had proven to be dried human blood. And remarkable blood it was: "Scientific analysis by an unidentified lab showed the blood contained twenty-four chromosomes, rather than the twenty-three each human inherits from their mother and father. [Wyatt] concluded that the extra chromosome was that of Jesus’s father, God." He couldn't identify the lab or show the actual lab results, he said, because the Israeli government had forbidden him from doing so.
"Under Jerusalem" tells a rich and complex story and it tells it well.
There seems to be a theme to the non-fiction books I've read recently. It's entirely unintentional, of course, but interesting nonetheless: "Below the Edge of Darkness" was set deep underwater. "Indianapolis," likewise, though not so deep (and far more tragic). And now this book. As the title and subtitle indicate, Lawler offers a history of the many excavations that have been made to uncover what lies under the ancient city of Jerusalem. This topic by itself would appeal to me: I enjoy reading ancient history and I've had the good fortune of seeing some of the sites discussed here. What takes "Under Jerusalem" well beyond "ancient history" is how his book explores the many contentious -- often explosive -- political, historical, cultural, and religious questions that are at play in every single dig undertaken or even proposed.
I was struck time and again by how deep -- literally deep, as in hundreds of feet below ground -- history lies beneath the streets of the current city. Massive structures the size of football fields have been discovered in digs beneath a row of humble shops and homes: "Large stones turned out to be the top of a tower with twelve-foot-thick walls. It measured forty-five feet by fifty-five feet, nearly as large as the base of the Washington Monument." Remarkable discoveries, yes, discoveries come encumbered by meaning.
Mark Twain (who, with characteristic restraint, described Jerusalem as "mournful, dreary, and lifeless," and its inhabitants as "ignorant, depraved, superstitious, dirty, lousy, thieving vagabonds"), astutely observed, "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice." Historical narratives everywhere necessarily express one thing at the expense of others. Historical narratives in Jerusalem, however, take that up several notches.
Consider the decisions that need to be made (and who makes them): Where to dig, how far down to go, what to dig past and what to stop at and examine, what to publicize and what to suppress, how archaeological findings are described, what the funders want to hear (Lawler quotes Israeli historical geographer Ronnie Ellenblum, “Archaeologists can be slaves to those funding their digs... Some of them are like dear brothers to me, but they don’t even know when they sell their souls.”). All of these questions take on added weight in Jerusalem. As an Indiana University researcher quoted in the book put it, "Dead people are pretty nonjudgmental. But practicing archaeology today amounts to activism -- whether we intend to be activists or not. We are messing with people's heritage." Or as an Israeli archaeologist more succinctly put it, all excavation work is "connected by its umbilical cord to politics."
There are so many points of contention. Is the dig being conducted to provide evidence that Jews have been in Jerusalem longer than Arabs? Are findings that support a far longer presence of Arabs being suppressed? Is the excavation meant to undermine Scripture? To support it? ("Archaeological finds that bolstered a particular belief were welcome; those that did not could be dismissed or even attacked as false.") What is to be done if human remains are found? Digging up graves and moving bodies can be seen as illegal or blasphemous, and numerous riots (Jewish and Muslim) have broken out over the matter. Was Jerusalem during the reign of David and Solomon as grand and glorious as the Bible and lore suggest, or was it something something really quite unremarkable? Did David and Solomon even exist? Are claims about the age of this or that find being exaggerated -- for personal gain or because f an agenda? Who has the legal right to approve or conduct an excavation?
In "Under Jerusalem" we encounter famous people (Twain, Melville, Flaubert, presidents, prime ministers, and PLO leaders, a Rothschild or two, even Abraham Lincoln, who, moments before he was assassinated, told his wife that he longed to see the Holy City), mystics and mediums, religious leaders seeking to undermine scientists and scientists doing the same to priests, rabbis, and imams, Arab Israelis whose homes or stores are damaged by digs being secretly conducted beneath them, drunken monks, clerical members of Christian sects coming to blows over a very small space, would-be Indiana Joneses, evangelical Americans who want to discover the ruins of the Second Temple so they can hasten the Second Coming, fundamentalist Jews who want to demolish the Muslim Dome of the Rock and replace it with a Third Temple and thus bring on the coming of the Messiah, and on and on.
And indeed, we meet numerous individuals who seek the lost Ark of the Covenant (a Rothschild was one), and one or two who claim to have actually found it (one claimed that the evidence was stolen by a Russian woman spy), or the crown, sword, and ring of Solomon, ancient scrolls in perfect condition, and even the very stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. Another, a fundamentalist Christian nurse anesthetist from Tennessee named Ron Wyatt, claimed he heard an angel (or it might have been Jesus himself) blessing him as he dug. He said that "samples of [a] black substance" he had discovered had proven to be dried human blood. And remarkable blood it was: "Scientific analysis by an unidentified lab showed the blood contained twenty-four chromosomes, rather than the twenty-three each human inherits from their mother and father. [Wyatt] concluded that the extra chromosome was that of Jesus’s father, God." He couldn't identify the lab or show the actual lab results, he said, because the Israeli government had forbidden him from doing so.
"Under Jerusalem" tells a rich and complex story and it tells it well.
March 2, 2022
It's very difficult to write an unbiased history of Israel. The author tries, at least at the beginning, but tilts more and more against Israel as the book progresses.
Two examples: his first mention of Yassir Arafat on page 149, he says the goal of the PLO was "liberation of the region from Israeli control". No, the goal of the PLO was the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of all its Jewish inhabitants.
On page 297, describing a right-wing Israeli's summation of the situation (and while there are plenty of right-wing Israelis, there are apparently no left-or right-wing Arabs), he says "the Israeli government paid a security agent to protect the area's Jewish settlers, and Jewish children were regularly ushered to and from school by armed guards". Well, gee, maybe the government had to protect Jewish residents (all the Jews in this book are "settlers") and children from murderous Arab attacks? Were Israeli Jews murdering Arab children?
Too bad. The history is interesting but the bias crippling. Skip this.
Two examples: his first mention of Yassir Arafat on page 149, he says the goal of the PLO was "liberation of the region from Israeli control". No, the goal of the PLO was the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of all its Jewish inhabitants.
On page 297, describing a right-wing Israeli's summation of the situation (and while there are plenty of right-wing Israelis, there are apparently no left-or right-wing Arabs), he says "the Israeli government paid a security agent to protect the area's Jewish settlers, and Jewish children were regularly ushered to and from school by armed guards". Well, gee, maybe the government had to protect Jewish residents (all the Jews in this book are "settlers") and children from murderous Arab attacks? Were Israeli Jews murdering Arab children?
Too bad. The history is interesting but the bias crippling. Skip this.
December 7, 2021
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
Considering how many various powers have held sway over Jerusalem through the centuries and how many of its historical buildings have become mishmashed structures built with and on top the ruins of others, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the history of archaeological digs beneath it’s Old City is a messy one, to put it kindly. What may be a surprise however is the extent to just how absurdly complex and fraught it is. Since the mid-1800’s, the city has been host to an almost dizzyingly long and eclectic line of different foreign and local figures, organizations, and governments scraping around and under its ruins and holy sites. Just as varied as the men and women doing all the digging have been their respective motivations and agendas, and almost as diverse are the many controversies that have erupted in their wake.
So such is why I give Andrew Lawler enthusiastic kudos for what he has accomplished with his latest title, Under Jerusalem. It feels like he did an incredible amount of work to wrangle his complicated and volatile subject material into something digestible for the everyday reader, all while striving to be as objective as he could. At least, that seems to be the only explanation given the final result - a book that is accessible, almost shockingly fair given the topic, and last but not least, quite a fascinating read.
Considering how many various powers have held sway over Jerusalem through the centuries and how many of its historical buildings have become mishmashed structures built with and on top the ruins of others, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the history of archaeological digs beneath it’s Old City is a messy one, to put it kindly. What may be a surprise however is the extent to just how absurdly complex and fraught it is. Since the mid-1800’s, the city has been host to an almost dizzyingly long and eclectic line of different foreign and local figures, organizations, and governments scraping around and under its ruins and holy sites. Just as varied as the men and women doing all the digging have been their respective motivations and agendas, and almost as diverse are the many controversies that have erupted in their wake.
So such is why I give Andrew Lawler enthusiastic kudos for what he has accomplished with his latest title, Under Jerusalem. It feels like he did an incredible amount of work to wrangle his complicated and volatile subject material into something digestible for the everyday reader, all while striving to be as objective as he could. At least, that seems to be the only explanation given the final result - a book that is accessible, almost shockingly fair given the topic, and last but not least, quite a fascinating read.
July 29, 2022
Andrew Lawler has written a solid book in many ways, but it's deficient in one large respect: It lacks balance. To him, there's a living Arab and Islamic reality above ground and a dead Jewish and partly Christian reality below ground. The insinuation is that the long tenure of Jews and Christians in Jerusalem, well prior to its inclusion in Islamic caliphates and empires and continuing after it, is partly delegitimized. Lawler doesn't deny facts so much as he seems to be writing an apologia for one side (the Palestinian side) in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Dubious funders and ideologically driven archaeologists don't completely annihilate the value of archaeology, something Lawler says he affirms but seems to deny in practice.
This "damning with faint praise" is evident at various junctures. The author seems ambivalent about the unauthorized dig at Solomon's Stables / the Marwani prayer space, and he barely even mentions the 1948 demolition of the Jewish Quarter by the Jordanian Arab Legion which, when combined with a de facto ban on Jews visiting Jerusalem, seems to have been an attempt to eliminate Jewish ties to the city. He mentions "Temple denial," only to portray it as an understandable reaction by Palestinians to Israeli provocations. His long excursus into the Camp David and Taba peace negotiations fails to mention how Arafat's final refusal to compromise kicked off a bloody intifada that could only harden Israeli attitudes toward their legitimacy in holding Jerusalem. If there is a cycle of provocation and violence, we only see half of it if we rely on Lawler's book.
This leads me to a counterfactual thought experiment in which Palestinians, rather than Israelis, come to possess the Old City of Jerusalem. Is there any compelling reason to believe that Jews wouldn't be excluded from the place, that their sanctities wouldn't be hidden or destroyed, and that the Arab-Islamic character of the city wouldn't be exclusively privileged? The experience of other regional countries and the rhetoric of Palestinian political movements isn't reassuring; nor is the coldness with which United Nations bodies like UNESCO have treated Israeli interests in Jerusalem. So where does that leave the premise that Israeli archaeology is somehow inherently bad and the adoption of a more broad-based approach would be beneficial? I suggest that archaeology in Jerusalem would always be partisan and zero-sum in outlook no matter who's in charge.
A final problem I have with the book is the questionable claim that evidence for the two Jewish Temples is sparse on the ground. I'd respond that with large parts of the Temple Mount / Haram ash-Sharif off limits to archaeology, scholars are forced to look in second- and third-best locations, leaving the most promising one hostage to the religious, national, and political sensitivity of one side.
This "damning with faint praise" is evident at various junctures. The author seems ambivalent about the unauthorized dig at Solomon's Stables / the Marwani prayer space, and he barely even mentions the 1948 demolition of the Jewish Quarter by the Jordanian Arab Legion which, when combined with a de facto ban on Jews visiting Jerusalem, seems to have been an attempt to eliminate Jewish ties to the city. He mentions "Temple denial," only to portray it as an understandable reaction by Palestinians to Israeli provocations. His long excursus into the Camp David and Taba peace negotiations fails to mention how Arafat's final refusal to compromise kicked off a bloody intifada that could only harden Israeli attitudes toward their legitimacy in holding Jerusalem. If there is a cycle of provocation and violence, we only see half of it if we rely on Lawler's book.
This leads me to a counterfactual thought experiment in which Palestinians, rather than Israelis, come to possess the Old City of Jerusalem. Is there any compelling reason to believe that Jews wouldn't be excluded from the place, that their sanctities wouldn't be hidden or destroyed, and that the Arab-Islamic character of the city wouldn't be exclusively privileged? The experience of other regional countries and the rhetoric of Palestinian political movements isn't reassuring; nor is the coldness with which United Nations bodies like UNESCO have treated Israeli interests in Jerusalem. So where does that leave the premise that Israeli archaeology is somehow inherently bad and the adoption of a more broad-based approach would be beneficial? I suggest that archaeology in Jerusalem would always be partisan and zero-sum in outlook no matter who's in charge.
A final problem I have with the book is the questionable claim that evidence for the two Jewish Temples is sparse on the ground. I'd respond that with large parts of the Temple Mount / Haram ash-Sharif off limits to archaeology, scholars are forced to look in second- and third-best locations, leaving the most promising one hostage to the religious, national, and political sensitivity of one side.
December 4, 2021
A fascinating read about the most fascinating and hotly contested city in the world. Having been to all of the places discussed in this book and interacted with many with passionate opinions on the archeological digs in Jerusalem I found this book interesting.
The book contains a lot of historical information on the different waves of archeologists, both amateur and professional, and how that has intersected with religion and politics. There are a few times in this book when the author is a little bit sloppy when commenting on theology and politics, but overall this is a very good read.
Note- as a lover of Jerusalem, it's my desire that all religious and political factions can work together and cooperate on these digs and remove politics from the equation.
The book contains a lot of historical information on the different waves of archeologists, both amateur and professional, and how that has intersected with religion and politics. There are a few times in this book when the author is a little bit sloppy when commenting on theology and politics, but overall this is a very good read.
Note- as a lover of Jerusalem, it's my desire that all religious and political factions can work together and cooperate on these digs and remove politics from the equation.
August 9, 2022
The author quotes Mark Twain as writing, “The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” How true! Science is competing with religion; religions and nations are competing with each other and different factions within the same religion are competing to control the narrative and thus control what gets written of the history of Jerusalem. In that part of the world, as we know, history legitimizes present-day ownership. At one point, archaeologists were forbidden to excavate in some areas. All the digging was done by religious fanatics who wanted to keep the scientists out. One official told an archaeologist that “he feared archaeological discoveries might contradict Jewish texts.” Sheesh. An Ashkenazi leader was worried that the scientists might find the Ark of the Covenant, which would be bad news because that isn’t supposed to happen until the arrival of the Messiah. Because excavators were often driven by their OWN religion rather than history, they would bulldoze away hundreds of years of history in order to get at the layer that they were interested in. They were tearing down medieval structures without a second thought. Some archaeologists would lie about what they found, whether to legitimize their work, obscure history, please their funders, or get around the unpleasant need to get permission to dig. The whole thing is so infuriating! So much knowledge has been forever lost and so many lives have been forever lost in the name of God. God surely weeps for Jerusalem.
July 15, 2025
Mixed feelings on how to rate this; went lower rather than higher. I really enjoyed the first 1/3 or so of the book; the short biographies on some of the renowned archaeologists were fascinating, and the history is SO cool; I love learning about it. As the book went on, it continued to interest me (I love that there's a map with each chapter! more books should do this!) but I also felt something was off. As I poked around and read some other reviews, I think I've nailed it down...it has a pro-Palestine perspective, rather than pro-Israel. Personally, I didn't appreciate having that infused into my archaeology.
In the end, I'd recommend it; but read with discernment. The history makes it worthwhile to pick up, but there's an agenda in here as well. Then again, it's no shock with the topic.
In the end, I'd recommend it; but read with discernment. The history makes it worthwhile to pick up, but there's an agenda in here as well. Then again, it's no shock with the topic.
April 19, 2022
I bought this book because I heard the author give a talk about "Jerusalem's Buried History." In that talk, he was concise and informative. Unfortunately the book, while informative, is not concise. It struck me as the author wanting to tell the reader everything he had ever uncovered about Jerusalem and the archeological digs there. The black and white maps are close to useless unless the reader already has a sense of where things are in the Old City. (I'll admit that I was glad that I have been to Jerusalem so at least I could see some of this in my mind's eye). Lawler is a very engaging speaker, and I would say that with tighter editing this could have been a very engaging book.
June 10, 2024
Read this book to understand more on the Palestinian/Jerusalem conflict. Good insight into how the cultures of Jerusalem have shifted throughout time and how those in power can skew history for political support.
Funny mention on how the Indiana Jones movies inspired a ton of archaeologists in this area looking for the ark of the covenant.
Funny mention on how the Indiana Jones movies inspired a ton of archaeologists in this area looking for the ark of the covenant.
April 24, 2023
I expected more archeology. Instead, this book focused on the political and social implications of the archeological pursuit in Jerusalem. Explored the topic well. I feel much more aware of the societal impact of various tourist attractions in Jerusalem now!
August 10, 2024
Fascinating study of the underground archaeology of the Holy City Jerusalem over the ages. A more contentious history I have never seen or read. A royal mishmash of origins: Muslim, Greek, Roman, post Babylonian Judaism, First and Second Temple periods, David and Solomon the kings, Palestinian, Canaanite, and prehistoric. Phew!
February 1, 2022
I found this book to be not what I expected. I was expecting a review of the current findings and archaeological developments over time. The topic turned out to focus primarily on the last part of the title, "the World's Most Contested City". Lawler walks you through the history of archaeology and gives a lot of details on what was done wrong. This was fascinating but revealed a lot about the author's biases. Anyone who assumes a historian is unbiased is naive. Lawler shows his bias with each chapter. You soon realize that anyone who is religious and is Jewish or Christian is not a person esteemed by this author. An agnostic or religiously antagonistic is highly esteemed or if you are in certain ethnic groups. Devout Muslims are esteemed but not as highly as a non-religious person. That doesn't necessarily detract from the book, but it does help you understand the author's selection of topics as well as his presentation of topics. An attempt to be balanced would take this 393 (hardcover and I read the endnotes so those pages are included) page tome into multiple thousands of pages.
January 31, 2024
Both my parents were ministers, my father particularly studied the Old Testament in his advanced degree work, and so I've been hearing about the archeology of the Middle East and Jerusalem for as long as I can remember. One thing I noticed after a while was that there was a lot of speculation about the various Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount, but very little information on where they actually had stood. We have detailed descriptions of Herod's Temple from Josephus, but almost no correlation of that information to the Mount as it is today.
I did understand that the Turks and Arabs weren't too keen about letting foreigners dig on the Mount, but foreigners frequently got tours of the place, so it still seemed odd that there was so little information. Then in late high school or early college I found a dusty old volume that contained the full report of the last time a Christian was allowed to take a good look at the grounds, including taking measurements and getting into basements. This was Charles Wilson's work from the 1860s, when he helped do the British Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem. His report is detailed and yet also vague. The truth is he didn't find much that would help with the temples.
I also learned that much of what we see as the Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary looks like a hill with retaining walls, but is actually mostly hollow. Or largely hollow. Behind the Western Wall (a "retaining wall") are floors of colonnaded rooms, halls, and cisterns. The bedrock is also honeycombed with chambers, tunnels, more cisterns (you want to have stored lots of water before somebody comes to besiege you) and so forth.
Much time has passed since the 1860s, and I've been hoping to find a comprehensive survey of what we've learned since then, despite the severe restrictions on archeology in any part of Jerusalem. I saw this book in the bookstore last year, and hoped it would be that thing. Grabbed it, brought it home, got to reading it before the usual 15-year delay (actually closer to 20) between my book purchases and getting around to reading. I'm very glad I did that.
The book is, however, not quite the thing I was looking for. Lawler's theme is the history of archeology in Jerusalem, and why it all goes wrong, more or less. This means his topic is not What We Know but Why We Know So Little. It is extremely informative about the various diggers and their digs. Except at the very end, each story finishes with something interfering with the archeology. Politics, religion, violations of the law, and corruption figure among the disruptions; but it's mostly politics based in religion.
It paints an ugly picture of mankind. Most of the groups funding the digging, and many of the diggers, feel compelled to lie, cheat, and there's some stealing, too. There's a whole lot of destruction of "what they're not interested in" which often translates as "what would politically benefit other groups." A lot of the "digging" was done with bulldozers. Nobody seems able to obey the laws, nobody seems able to keep the dig confined to the licensed area, nobody respects the property of current residents, and very few tell the whole truth about what they find.
The result is an interesting case study in human nature.
The most important archeological revelation of the story is that it's not just the Mount that is hollow. Since they always had to build in stone, and they always lived in a walled town, Jerusalem in NOT a Middle-Eastern tel. A tel is slowly built up with human detritus, and produces layers of squashed history. Sometimes foundations survive, but not whole rooms, and slowly the human habitation site rises above the surrounding territory. I have seen these in Turkey, and it really is remarkable how at a single glance you can see that it's not a hill, but a tel.
Jerusalem, though, had to use the column and the arch for most construction, and while there were earthquakes and the like, what tended to happen was that one expanded a property by building upward. This was generally done by just adding another floor, maybe inserting more supports in the existing structure, and then relegating the lowest floor to storage, or trash, or cisterns. (The more typical practice is to knock buildings down, fill the foundation with rubble, and build on the rubble. Here the well-supported floors saved you that trouble. You'd knock the top off, perhaps, but not pointlessly destroy existing structure.) The streets would often accumulate layers of new paving over time, so they were more like a tel, but gradually the basements would fill with debris, and the next century would build another floor, and the city rises above bedrock a story at a time. The exceptions are when the Babylonians, the Romans, or the Israelis destroy a whole area: usually knocking the top layer down and pushing it into the ravines.
Which means that when you dig in Jerusalem you're very likely to find rooms packed to the ceiling with human trash and human waste, but intact. If the room you find extends past the boundary of your license, well, it's awfully tempting to just keep digging sideways...
Another interesting thing is implied, but not definitively stated (interesting in itself), which is that almost all the discussions I have read of the Temple Mount have basically assumed that the current "platform" of the Mount is basically the platform of Herod's era. More or less, maybe with some pavement removed or added. But when the Arabs decided to open the so-called Solomon's Stables for a prayer hall, they brought in bulldozers and built a ramp down to the colonnade so they could reopen doorways. That strongly suggests that the platform is a whole story above Herod's. Maybe two. And that suggests that there would be no sign whatsoever of Herod's temple, and certainly not Solomon's, on the platform. Which is a reason why nobody found much up there.
I don't want to ding a book for not being exactly what I was looking for, though I may be doing that a bit, here. I was (and still am) hoping to find a detailed summary of the discoveries, with drawings of the layers, rooms, tunnels and hallways (not to mention streets, stairways and alleys) that exist. Lawler wasn't even trying to do that. But I'll still object to the complete absence of even a single cross-section drawing of any part of any of the digs.
Lawler has an overhead sketch of the Old City and surroundings, with various landmarks that are discussed in the book. Each chapter has a version of this sketch map, picking out only the landmarks to be discussed in that chapter. That's a clever idea. Other than that, though, the details are very vague. We learn that rooms are, say, the size of two tennis courts, or of a football pitch, or two football pitches, but generally not specific dimensions and orientations. I'm strongly feeling that not having a single slice diagram through the Mount or through the "City of David" is failing to meet a clear obligation. One or two examples would be the minimum, so I'm docking it a star.
I did understand that the Turks and Arabs weren't too keen about letting foreigners dig on the Mount, but foreigners frequently got tours of the place, so it still seemed odd that there was so little information. Then in late high school or early college I found a dusty old volume that contained the full report of the last time a Christian was allowed to take a good look at the grounds, including taking measurements and getting into basements. This was Charles Wilson's work from the 1860s, when he helped do the British Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem. His report is detailed and yet also vague. The truth is he didn't find much that would help with the temples.
I also learned that much of what we see as the Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary looks like a hill with retaining walls, but is actually mostly hollow. Or largely hollow. Behind the Western Wall (a "retaining wall") are floors of colonnaded rooms, halls, and cisterns. The bedrock is also honeycombed with chambers, tunnels, more cisterns (you want to have stored lots of water before somebody comes to besiege you) and so forth.
Much time has passed since the 1860s, and I've been hoping to find a comprehensive survey of what we've learned since then, despite the severe restrictions on archeology in any part of Jerusalem. I saw this book in the bookstore last year, and hoped it would be that thing. Grabbed it, brought it home, got to reading it before the usual 15-year delay (actually closer to 20) between my book purchases and getting around to reading. I'm very glad I did that.
The book is, however, not quite the thing I was looking for. Lawler's theme is the history of archeology in Jerusalem, and why it all goes wrong, more or less. This means his topic is not What We Know but Why We Know So Little. It is extremely informative about the various diggers and their digs. Except at the very end, each story finishes with something interfering with the archeology. Politics, religion, violations of the law, and corruption figure among the disruptions; but it's mostly politics based in religion.
It paints an ugly picture of mankind. Most of the groups funding the digging, and many of the diggers, feel compelled to lie, cheat, and there's some stealing, too. There's a whole lot of destruction of "what they're not interested in" which often translates as "what would politically benefit other groups." A lot of the "digging" was done with bulldozers. Nobody seems able to obey the laws, nobody seems able to keep the dig confined to the licensed area, nobody respects the property of current residents, and very few tell the whole truth about what they find.
The result is an interesting case study in human nature.
The most important archeological revelation of the story is that it's not just the Mount that is hollow. Since they always had to build in stone, and they always lived in a walled town, Jerusalem in NOT a Middle-Eastern tel. A tel is slowly built up with human detritus, and produces layers of squashed history. Sometimes foundations survive, but not whole rooms, and slowly the human habitation site rises above the surrounding territory. I have seen these in Turkey, and it really is remarkable how at a single glance you can see that it's not a hill, but a tel.
Jerusalem, though, had to use the column and the arch for most construction, and while there were earthquakes and the like, what tended to happen was that one expanded a property by building upward. This was generally done by just adding another floor, maybe inserting more supports in the existing structure, and then relegating the lowest floor to storage, or trash, or cisterns. (The more typical practice is to knock buildings down, fill the foundation with rubble, and build on the rubble. Here the well-supported floors saved you that trouble. You'd knock the top off, perhaps, but not pointlessly destroy existing structure.) The streets would often accumulate layers of new paving over time, so they were more like a tel, but gradually the basements would fill with debris, and the next century would build another floor, and the city rises above bedrock a story at a time. The exceptions are when the Babylonians, the Romans, or the Israelis destroy a whole area: usually knocking the top layer down and pushing it into the ravines.
Which means that when you dig in Jerusalem you're very likely to find rooms packed to the ceiling with human trash and human waste, but intact. If the room you find extends past the boundary of your license, well, it's awfully tempting to just keep digging sideways...
Another interesting thing is implied, but not definitively stated (interesting in itself), which is that almost all the discussions I have read of the Temple Mount have basically assumed that the current "platform" of the Mount is basically the platform of Herod's era. More or less, maybe with some pavement removed or added. But when the Arabs decided to open the so-called Solomon's Stables for a prayer hall, they brought in bulldozers and built a ramp down to the colonnade so they could reopen doorways. That strongly suggests that the platform is a whole story above Herod's. Maybe two. And that suggests that there would be no sign whatsoever of Herod's temple, and certainly not Solomon's, on the platform. Which is a reason why nobody found much up there.
I don't want to ding a book for not being exactly what I was looking for, though I may be doing that a bit, here. I was (and still am) hoping to find a detailed summary of the discoveries, with drawings of the layers, rooms, tunnels and hallways (not to mention streets, stairways and alleys) that exist. Lawler wasn't even trying to do that. But I'll still object to the complete absence of even a single cross-section drawing of any part of any of the digs.
Lawler has an overhead sketch of the Old City and surroundings, with various landmarks that are discussed in the book. Each chapter has a version of this sketch map, picking out only the landmarks to be discussed in that chapter. That's a clever idea. Other than that, though, the details are very vague. We learn that rooms are, say, the size of two tennis courts, or of a football pitch, or two football pitches, but generally not specific dimensions and orientations. I'm strongly feeling that not having a single slice diagram through the Mount or through the "City of David" is failing to meet a clear obligation. One or two examples would be the minimum, so I'm docking it a star.
January 31, 2022
This is a very good 250-page book crammed into 350 pages. The story Lawler relates - 170 or so years of archaeology in Jerusalem - is very worth telling. It is entirely wrapped up in the religious and geopolitical battles over a tiny spot on the globe which the three Abrahamic religions all claim as sacred. And there are some great tales of Indiana Jones wanna-bes, fanatics, cynics, and a range of other characters who have dug for God and glory there. But the details about the archaeological infighting were boring for the lay reader, and the illustrations were bizarrely repetitive and largely unhelpful. But Lawler is an otherwise engaging writer, and the bones are the story, buried in their somewhere, are worth excavating.
February 21, 2022
Man this book took me way longer than I expected. Really cool history of the archaeology of Jerusalem. I did expect Lawler to delve a bit more into the history of the city, but by staying to the story of the science behind uncovering that buried history, he shines a spotlight on both the world's religions and the everyday citizens of the city and how they are intertwined with this contested story. Definitely recommend for any biblical history fans, but I'd say it really helps to have some background knowledge of the history of the area first.
February 14, 2025
This is not a good book, and it is not worth reading.
From presenting Palestinians as lacking any agency, to presenting Israelis as sinister conspiracists, to basic factual failures, to massive omissions, to misquoting archaeological papers and findings, this book was massively disappointing. I have catalogued some of the issues below, but to exhaustively review this book would require a book of its own.
Let’s begin with an omission: Yasser Arafat, the head of the PLO for over 25 years, is barely mentioned until late in the book, and he is presented as merely wanting to establish a Palestinian state, with the notable omission that his organization committed itself to destroying Israel.
The book also misstates basic historical facts, like claiming that Arab states ran Jerusalem for 1500 years (“half of the last three millennia”). Ottoman rule was certainly not Arab, as any Turkish citizen can tell you, and it is a rookie error to conflate Muslim and Arab identity.
Other, more deeply historical facts are similarly wrong, such as the claim that Jordan destroyed thirty-something synagogues when it took Jerusalem in 1948 and expelled its Jewish inhabitants: the true count is over 50, and while Lawler presents the destruction as potentially merely the unintended product of war, the historical record begs to differ. Of course, this gets at a bigger issue: Lawler views what Jews do as conspiratorial truth, and what Arabs do as a matter of dispute that lacked any other option, done by a people lacking any agency.
Consider how Lawler presents Jews laying a cornerstone at a site holy to Jews and Muslims alike. He says this act, of placing a stone, “sparked a deadly riot”. Who rioted? How absurd is it to riot over the placing of a stone? He gives voice to the conspiratorial view of Jews purportedly trying to destroy the Temple Mount’s Muslim sites built on top of Jewish ones, but neglects to mention how widely unfounded those myths are (especially in the shadow of over 50 years of Jewish control of the Temple Mount), and the fact that those myths he platforms have led to the wholesale massacre of Jews. The Hebron Massacre sparked by such myths is barely mentioned.
Another trend is similarly informative. Lawler always clarifies when any Israelis killed are soldiers, but Palestinians killed while attacking Israelis are described as just “Palestinians”, rather than terrorists or even militants, which misleadingly suggests they are civilians. This is part of the trend: Jews attacked are legitimate targets, and Palestinians are victims lacking any agency, no matter what the event. This bleeds into every part of the book.
Take another example related to the archaeological focus of the book. Lawler platforms the provocative claim that digging a new entrance to a prayer space on the Temple Mount is “equivalent” to opening a new Western Wall tunnel, even though the former required trampling on ancient antiquities and actually affected the Temple Mount, and the other did not.
Some of the errors are somewhat funny. For example, Lawler claims that the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz are Israel’s leading newspapers (neither has more than a 5% share, compared to Israel Hayom or Yedioth Ahronot at over 20% apiece). He quotes liberally from Haaretz, despite its limited reach, indicating a clear lack of familiarity with the media ecosystem, which becomes clear because he never quotes anything that was written in Arabic; he lacks fluency with the parties themselves.
Lawler’s bias also leads him to repeatedly focus on Israeli “nationalists”, but does not ever mention or describe the Palestinians as such. He fails to mention key reasons why Israelis might condemn what he calls “Muslim authorities”—namely their refusal to allow Jews to pray at Temple Mount site at all, a status quo that gives the lie to the presentation he makes of Palestinian leaders’ intentions.
Lawler also claims Arafat wanted “scientific evidence” of the Second Temple, which amply existed, and claims it was ironic that the American President (Clinton) was citing scripture. This was nonsense, and the Second Temple’s location is and was well established. He presents it as a question of dispute, which ignores that evidence. He claims Arafat was correct that there was no evidence of the Second Temple and claims “Israeli and Palestinian” archaeologists agreed. He cites a single Israeli archeologist who said there are no remains “of the Temple proper”, which is a microcosm of his poor and biased scholarship. Patrich, the Israeli scholar, has repeatedly stated that there is ample evidence that the Second Temple sat where the Temple Mount now is. The only open question, as he wrote in 2011, is where on the Temple Mount itself the temple sat (ie where it was located within the complex), not whether it was there at all. He later concedes that the Temple compound existed, but fails to mention the evidence (unearthed by folks like Patrich, in fact), showing the location of the temple itself, such as ancient cisterns. It is false to claim there is no evidence of a temple because it cannot be ascertained what was in the temple and what sat outside of it thousands of years ago. It would likewise be nonsense to claim there was no evidence of a temple but there was evidence of a temple compound and call that even “technically” accurate, as he says of Arafat’s temple denial.
Arafat was not claiming there was no temple, he was denying the existence of the whole compound, and did so repeatedly, which is undisputedly false, and deeply antisemitic in denying Jewish history, a claim that Lawler decides to buttress while ignoring the scholars he quotes. That he then claims that the archaeology was being “cherrypicked” is particularly rich, and notably so when archaeological evidence supporting Jewish history on the Mount is far greater in total than evidence of Palestinian claims to its historical significance, as even photos show this purportedly sacred site used as a trash heap over the centuries under Ottoman rule.
He quotes Chirac claiming that there would be more “Israeli aggression” if Arafat didn’t agree to peace, ignoring that the real issue was terrorism leading to Israeli self defense. He speaks of the Sharon visit to the Temple Mount, amazingly suggesting that the desire to forbid Jews from praying is somehow acceptable, and then repeating the already-debunked myth that the visit sparked the Second Intifada, which Arafat’s own wife has revealed was planned long before Sharon’s visit. Similarly, he describes how there had been purported negotiations breakthroughs in the days leading up to that point, which is flatly false. He describes how Israeli worshippers were injured by Arab rioters throwing stones, but gives no numbers before claiming Israel sent troops with a “blaze of live ammunition” and killed 4 Palestinians, not noting that the dead Palestinians were killed while trying to murder Israelis.
Nothing sums up this racist denial of Palestinian agency better than this sentence in the book:
“During the first week, Israeli soldiers killed 50 Palestinians, while the Israelis counted 5 civilians dead.”
Israelis “killed….Palestinians” is juxtaposed with “Israelis counted” civilians dead. Who killed Israeli civilians? Lawler never says. Who were the dead Palestinians, civilians or not? Lawler never says. Instead he draws this (false) equivalence and fails to give Palestinians any agency or action. They are presented passively. This infects the entire book, and damns it. I can’t possibly catalogue all the falsehoods or imbalances present, but avoid this book if you want to learn about this conflict or archaeological developments. It is genuinely frustrating and terrible, and suffering through it was only worth it so I can say it is not worth it for anyone else to.
From presenting Palestinians as lacking any agency, to presenting Israelis as sinister conspiracists, to basic factual failures, to massive omissions, to misquoting archaeological papers and findings, this book was massively disappointing. I have catalogued some of the issues below, but to exhaustively review this book would require a book of its own.
Let’s begin with an omission: Yasser Arafat, the head of the PLO for over 25 years, is barely mentioned until late in the book, and he is presented as merely wanting to establish a Palestinian state, with the notable omission that his organization committed itself to destroying Israel.
The book also misstates basic historical facts, like claiming that Arab states ran Jerusalem for 1500 years (“half of the last three millennia”). Ottoman rule was certainly not Arab, as any Turkish citizen can tell you, and it is a rookie error to conflate Muslim and Arab identity.
Other, more deeply historical facts are similarly wrong, such as the claim that Jordan destroyed thirty-something synagogues when it took Jerusalem in 1948 and expelled its Jewish inhabitants: the true count is over 50, and while Lawler presents the destruction as potentially merely the unintended product of war, the historical record begs to differ. Of course, this gets at a bigger issue: Lawler views what Jews do as conspiratorial truth, and what Arabs do as a matter of dispute that lacked any other option, done by a people lacking any agency.
Consider how Lawler presents Jews laying a cornerstone at a site holy to Jews and Muslims alike. He says this act, of placing a stone, “sparked a deadly riot”. Who rioted? How absurd is it to riot over the placing of a stone? He gives voice to the conspiratorial view of Jews purportedly trying to destroy the Temple Mount’s Muslim sites built on top of Jewish ones, but neglects to mention how widely unfounded those myths are (especially in the shadow of over 50 years of Jewish control of the Temple Mount), and the fact that those myths he platforms have led to the wholesale massacre of Jews. The Hebron Massacre sparked by such myths is barely mentioned.
Another trend is similarly informative. Lawler always clarifies when any Israelis killed are soldiers, but Palestinians killed while attacking Israelis are described as just “Palestinians”, rather than terrorists or even militants, which misleadingly suggests they are civilians. This is part of the trend: Jews attacked are legitimate targets, and Palestinians are victims lacking any agency, no matter what the event. This bleeds into every part of the book.
Take another example related to the archaeological focus of the book. Lawler platforms the provocative claim that digging a new entrance to a prayer space on the Temple Mount is “equivalent” to opening a new Western Wall tunnel, even though the former required trampling on ancient antiquities and actually affected the Temple Mount, and the other did not.
Some of the errors are somewhat funny. For example, Lawler claims that the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz are Israel’s leading newspapers (neither has more than a 5% share, compared to Israel Hayom or Yedioth Ahronot at over 20% apiece). He quotes liberally from Haaretz, despite its limited reach, indicating a clear lack of familiarity with the media ecosystem, which becomes clear because he never quotes anything that was written in Arabic; he lacks fluency with the parties themselves.
Lawler’s bias also leads him to repeatedly focus on Israeli “nationalists”, but does not ever mention or describe the Palestinians as such. He fails to mention key reasons why Israelis might condemn what he calls “Muslim authorities”—namely their refusal to allow Jews to pray at Temple Mount site at all, a status quo that gives the lie to the presentation he makes of Palestinian leaders’ intentions.
Lawler also claims Arafat wanted “scientific evidence” of the Second Temple, which amply existed, and claims it was ironic that the American President (Clinton) was citing scripture. This was nonsense, and the Second Temple’s location is and was well established. He presents it as a question of dispute, which ignores that evidence. He claims Arafat was correct that there was no evidence of the Second Temple and claims “Israeli and Palestinian” archaeologists agreed. He cites a single Israeli archeologist who said there are no remains “of the Temple proper”, which is a microcosm of his poor and biased scholarship. Patrich, the Israeli scholar, has repeatedly stated that there is ample evidence that the Second Temple sat where the Temple Mount now is. The only open question, as he wrote in 2011, is where on the Temple Mount itself the temple sat (ie where it was located within the complex), not whether it was there at all. He later concedes that the Temple compound existed, but fails to mention the evidence (unearthed by folks like Patrich, in fact), showing the location of the temple itself, such as ancient cisterns. It is false to claim there is no evidence of a temple because it cannot be ascertained what was in the temple and what sat outside of it thousands of years ago. It would likewise be nonsense to claim there was no evidence of a temple but there was evidence of a temple compound and call that even “technically” accurate, as he says of Arafat’s temple denial.
Arafat was not claiming there was no temple, he was denying the existence of the whole compound, and did so repeatedly, which is undisputedly false, and deeply antisemitic in denying Jewish history, a claim that Lawler decides to buttress while ignoring the scholars he quotes. That he then claims that the archaeology was being “cherrypicked” is particularly rich, and notably so when archaeological evidence supporting Jewish history on the Mount is far greater in total than evidence of Palestinian claims to its historical significance, as even photos show this purportedly sacred site used as a trash heap over the centuries under Ottoman rule.
He quotes Chirac claiming that there would be more “Israeli aggression” if Arafat didn’t agree to peace, ignoring that the real issue was terrorism leading to Israeli self defense. He speaks of the Sharon visit to the Temple Mount, amazingly suggesting that the desire to forbid Jews from praying is somehow acceptable, and then repeating the already-debunked myth that the visit sparked the Second Intifada, which Arafat’s own wife has revealed was planned long before Sharon’s visit. Similarly, he describes how there had been purported negotiations breakthroughs in the days leading up to that point, which is flatly false. He describes how Israeli worshippers were injured by Arab rioters throwing stones, but gives no numbers before claiming Israel sent troops with a “blaze of live ammunition” and killed 4 Palestinians, not noting that the dead Palestinians were killed while trying to murder Israelis.
Nothing sums up this racist denial of Palestinian agency better than this sentence in the book:
“During the first week, Israeli soldiers killed 50 Palestinians, while the Israelis counted 5 civilians dead.”
Israelis “killed….Palestinians” is juxtaposed with “Israelis counted” civilians dead. Who killed Israeli civilians? Lawler never says. Who were the dead Palestinians, civilians or not? Lawler never says. Instead he draws this (false) equivalence and fails to give Palestinians any agency or action. They are presented passively. This infects the entire book, and damns it. I can’t possibly catalogue all the falsehoods or imbalances present, but avoid this book if you want to learn about this conflict or archaeological developments. It is genuinely frustrating and terrible, and suffering through it was only worth it so I can say it is not worth it for anyone else to.
May 4, 2022
Apparently all the trouble and conflict regarding the Old City of Jerusalem is not only on the surface but due to the tunnels, cisterns, tombs, hollows and cavernous rooms underneath. Rubbish and trash and ruins had increased the 'floor' levels so that what was first floors a thousand years ago is now deeply buried dozens of feet below the city streets that tourists stroll along.
Lawler attempts to keep an unbiased view and portray the tension and strife that undermines (in more ways than one) just about every attempt to conduct an archaeological excavation within the city limits of Jerusalem. And it's not just the Old City either. Every discovery tantalizes and teases, yearning for further investigation only to clash with religious and political conflicts. The decades - even centuries - of distrust continue to fuel tensions and also prevent most attempts to work together. For every group that can claim territory - even if it is a small square of land - possibly dozens of feet below the surface - vehemently fights for control and obstructs any other group that could be attempting to steal artifacts or plant fakes to 'steal' more territory.
It provides some amazing insight into the dispute between three major monotheistic religions - as well as various sects - over the centuries and to today. No group is willing to make concessions - out of fear from more fanatically adherents targeting them or their own extremist views. But Lawler attempts to keep focus on archaeological excavations and attempts to delve into the historic city of the Byzantium and Roman eras, early Judean and Canaanite times and even earlier.
Each chapter starts with a map of the Old City with areas that will be mentioned. With all the discussion of the underground spaces and levels, a more three-dimensional diagram - especially around the Western Wall tunnel - would have been appreciated. More photos too but then with the disputes, disagreements and so much work being done during the night - to be underhanded and reduce likely protestations - positive proof would be imprudent.
Intriguing from the historic viewpoint but also from religious and political stances.
2022-092
Lawler attempts to keep an unbiased view and portray the tension and strife that undermines (in more ways than one) just about every attempt to conduct an archaeological excavation within the city limits of Jerusalem. And it's not just the Old City either. Every discovery tantalizes and teases, yearning for further investigation only to clash with religious and political conflicts. The decades - even centuries - of distrust continue to fuel tensions and also prevent most attempts to work together. For every group that can claim territory - even if it is a small square of land - possibly dozens of feet below the surface - vehemently fights for control and obstructs any other group that could be attempting to steal artifacts or plant fakes to 'steal' more territory.
It provides some amazing insight into the dispute between three major monotheistic religions - as well as various sects - over the centuries and to today. No group is willing to make concessions - out of fear from more fanatically adherents targeting them or their own extremist views. But Lawler attempts to keep focus on archaeological excavations and attempts to delve into the historic city of the Byzantium and Roman eras, early Judean and Canaanite times and even earlier.
Each chapter starts with a map of the Old City with areas that will be mentioned. With all the discussion of the underground spaces and levels, a more three-dimensional diagram - especially around the Western Wall tunnel - would have been appreciated. More photos too but then with the disputes, disagreements and so much work being done during the night - to be underhanded and reduce likely protestations - positive proof would be imprudent.
Intriguing from the historic viewpoint but also from religious and political stances.
2022-092
May 28, 2022
I haven’t read anything about Archology before, this book opened my eyes. Though it’s not just a book about Archology, it is a book about Archology of the most contested city. Then I know Archology is not an east science, especially when it involves religious conflicts and politics.
It’s not an easy read for me as the writing sometimes feels plain and dry to me. But luckily, Andrew Lawler is nice presenter: his zoom presentation (even though his slides could be formatted better)
Anyway, it took me long, but I truly learnt a lot! When I got a chance to visit Jerusalem, I will for sure to visit the tunnels and the underground world.
It’s not an easy read for me as the writing sometimes feels plain and dry to me. But luckily, Andrew Lawler is nice presenter: his zoom presentation (even though his slides could be formatted better)
Anyway, it took me long, but I truly learnt a lot! When I got a chance to visit Jerusalem, I will for sure to visit the tunnels and the underground world.
August 17, 2024
I've owned this book for a few years and couldn't bring myself to dig in and read it. I decided to grab it and bring it on our month-long vacation thinking it would take me that long to finish it. I was incorrect. It was absolutely fascinating and brought me a much better understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was a slow read, and I needed to supplement with photos of sites, definitions of Hebrew and Arab words, and deep dives into some of the archeologists and former Presidents/Prime Ministers, etc., but it was a pleasure to read and I'm glad I did! My month-long read ended up being just two weeks!
July 18, 2023
Of course the complex, rancorous, byzantine, age old struggles in the Holy Land above continue below ground, and this book makes for compelling, fascinating reading. Many of these interesting discoveries were completely new to me, and they add considerable layers to an already full-to-the-brim cornucopia of conflict. It also makes me wonder if there are too many messianically-crazy Brits and Americans in the world...
February 22, 2024
3.5. This book was difficult to get into. It jumped timelines a lot and referenced specific location, which to understand where, you’d have to up to the beginning to see the map. It definitely picked up about half way through. I thought this book did an excellent job at shedding light on the impact archaeology has had on the political scene. Not a book for everyone but if you want to understand more on the current political issues over in Israel and Jerusalem, this book can definitely provide a new perspective.
Read
September 25, 2024Interesting story of the politics of archaeology in the one place everyone knows about and no one really understands. Perhaps the best insight the book provides is that the controlling the past provides a basis for steering the future, both inclusively and exclusively.
July 26, 2022
This took awhile, but it was a fascinating read. My one complaint is that the author didn’t have more pictures and maps, which would have been helpful. However, he is successful in showing that the tangled and twisted “layers cake” of Jerusalem’s past often affect the precarious present of the city’s people. It was also fascinating (and sad) to see how often outside religious forces (American Evangelicals, French Noblemen, etc.) have forced viewpoints and methods on the city at the expense of this living there.
May 12, 2025
Fascinating and fantastic. Loved it.
January 15, 2022
This book is for Jerusalem what A World Beneath the Sands: The Golden Age of Egyptology is for Egypt; some characters even appear in both. Both books also have the same thesis: that archeology is used as a tool for political struggle. The timeframe for Egypt spans an earlier period than the one for Jerusalem, which starts only in the nineteenth century and it is still active (archeology in Egypt is still very much active, but the political consequences less so). The author tries to be evenhanded, but somewhat fails to accomplish that. He makes the case that Israel does not spare efforts to explore diggings that relate the land with the Jewish people. But it is only comprehensible that most of the interest focuses on the biblical era, this is the unique aspect of Jerusalem, not the Ottoman period, which should be better represented in Istanbul. At the same time, he does not seem to spend much text on topics such as temple denial and, most importantly, all the efforts by the authorities that control the Temple Mount to deny access to the space beneath it. The justification seems to be fear of structural damage to the sanctuaries above, but for sure the digging techniques are much more reliable nowadays. It is more likely that those authorities are trying to prevent Israeli archeologists from exploring the exact spot that could provide answers to the most important mysteries in the history of the Jewish people in Israel. Nonetheless, it is a superbly researched book that I would recommend to anyone.
July 27, 2022
I really wanted to like this book as I love reading about history, especially anything relating to archaeology or art history. It was disappointing to read a book that only focused on such a small number of excavations and discoveries that have taken place in Jerusalem over the years. The most frustrating aspect of this book was that, organization wise, it was so over the place that it was hard to follow. The constant jumping back and forth in time are moments in the book that didn’t really connect was difficult to grasp and understand why the book was organized this way. Also, while history in Jerusalem is heavily charged when it comes to politics and religion, I got the sense that there was bias against Jewish figures mentioned. Also, there was very little said about Christian sites which Jerusalem is rich in. Overall this book could have been so much more and it was a disappointing read.
October 8, 2021
Under Jerusalem is a 150-year history of the ground just beneath one of the world’s holiest cities.
This is the well-researched, and well-written history of Jerusalem. From the time it was not much of anything to a major religious center, fought over by three or more religions.
We begin in 1863, when a Frenchman with an adventurous soul, heard a rumor. Buried beneath the city there was said to be a mother-lode of biblical treasure. Archaeology was just beginning to be a thing. Mainly with the idle rich who had the time and money to go on a treasure hunt.
When De Saulcy dug into a spot in the desert and found an old tomb, others followed quickly. The dig was great for archaeology but not so great for Jerusalem. Greed will do nasty things to ordinary people. As we can see now, Israel is land being fought over every day. And the claims to Jerusalem are made by many different religions. What has come out of the digs and finds has turned this area into a war zone.
The books' timeline takes us way back in history. So many people have fought over and claimed this area and so much has been destroyed in the process. This book is for the history lover, the truth seekers, and the treasure seekers.
I loved every second of it. I have never had an opinion one way or the other on the subject of Israel and Jerusalem. And I still don’t. But at least now I know the story.
Excellent work!
NetGalley/Doubleday November 02, 2021
This is the well-researched, and well-written history of Jerusalem. From the time it was not much of anything to a major religious center, fought over by three or more religions.
We begin in 1863, when a Frenchman with an adventurous soul, heard a rumor. Buried beneath the city there was said to be a mother-lode of biblical treasure. Archaeology was just beginning to be a thing. Mainly with the idle rich who had the time and money to go on a treasure hunt.
When De Saulcy dug into a spot in the desert and found an old tomb, others followed quickly. The dig was great for archaeology but not so great for Jerusalem. Greed will do nasty things to ordinary people. As we can see now, Israel is land being fought over every day. And the claims to Jerusalem are made by many different religions. What has come out of the digs and finds has turned this area into a war zone.
The books' timeline takes us way back in history. So many people have fought over and claimed this area and so much has been destroyed in the process. This book is for the history lover, the truth seekers, and the treasure seekers.
I loved every second of it. I have never had an opinion one way or the other on the subject of Israel and Jerusalem. And I still don’t. But at least now I know the story.
Excellent work!
NetGalley/Doubleday November 02, 2021
October 26, 2021
Andrew Lawler brings a beautifully researched account of the excavations of the city of Jerusalem in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These were the days before archaeology was a precise science and more of an adventure excursion. He takes us on the quest for the Ark of the Covenant by these amateur adventurers and how their digs created an international crisis.
I can't help but point readers to the superb article in the current Smithsonian Magazine about this book by its author.
I can't help but point readers to the superb article in the current Smithsonian Magazine about this book by its author.
January 29, 2022
This was a fascinating look at the archeology of Jerusalem. I expected it to be mostly about the digs and the interesting discoveries found. I was wrong. While the digs were a major part of the book, the politics and deviousness of the various factions involved were just as important.
Today's Jerusalem, sacred site to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, is built on the leavings of its past. Each of the factions has its own perception of what that past is. Each wants to use the archeological digs to confirm its truth.
In the early years of digging beneath the city, little was done to preserve anything that wasn't pertinent to what was being looked for. Later, quarrels about what areas were allowed to be accessed and what could not created major problems.
I found the book to be very enlightening. I knew that there were distinct factions in Jerusalem, but didn't understand the complexity of their disputes. I would recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the Middle East, archeology, the relationship between the various religions and a curiosity about Jerusalem.
Today's Jerusalem, sacred site to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, is built on the leavings of its past. Each of the factions has its own perception of what that past is. Each wants to use the archeological digs to confirm its truth.
In the early years of digging beneath the city, little was done to preserve anything that wasn't pertinent to what was being looked for. Later, quarrels about what areas were allowed to be accessed and what could not created major problems.
I found the book to be very enlightening. I knew that there were distinct factions in Jerusalem, but didn't understand the complexity of their disputes. I would recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the Middle East, archeology, the relationship between the various religions and a curiosity about Jerusalem.
December 28, 2021
One of the most enjoyable books I have read. I was at Ft Drum, NY for a refresher class and in my off time read this book. It was time well spent.
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