Digging Up Jerusalem

Dame Kathleen begins by giving the historical background to the momentous excavations which she directed during 1961-67: the founding of the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1865 and the often horrifying difficulties met by the early explorers , notably Charles Warren and F.J. Bliss, in the teeth of apathy and obstruction. Their explorations by shafts and tunnels made notable discoveries about the topography of Jerusalem but could not provide dating evidence. Subsequent chapters describe the layout of Biblical Jerusalem and the problems that the excavations attempted to solve; the boundaries of David's City, for instance, and the authenticity of the site of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.