Jerusalem, the Old City, Wilson’s Arch and the Great Causeway
Authors:   Israel Antiquities
                        Authority, Weksler-Bdolah Shlomit ,   Israel Antiquities
                        Authority, Onn Alexander ,   Israel Antiquities
                        Authority, Bar-Nathan Rachel 
Published: December 2024

History of the Research The Great Causeway was first documented and
described in studies by scholars of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the
second half of the nineteenth century (Warren C. and Conder C.R. 1884, The
Survey of Western Palestine III: Jerusalem, London, pp. 193-209; Wilson C.W.
1865. Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, London, pp. 28-29, Pl. XII; Wilson C.W.
1880. The Masonry of the Haram Wall, PEQ 13:22-30). Warren's research
included an excavation of two deep shafts to the level of virgin bedrock in
the cavity beneath Wilson's Arch. To the west of Wilson's Arch and beneath
the arches of the 'Great Causeway', Warren documented a monumental public
hall from the time of the Second Temple, which he called the Masonic Hall
(Warren C. 1876. Underground Jerusalem. London, pp. 370-371; Warren and
Conder 1884:200-202). This hall was investigated again in the twentieth
century (Stinespring W.F. 1967. Wilson's Arch and Masonic Hall, Summer 1966,
Biblical Archaeologist 30:27-31), and once again by D. Bahat and A. Maier
(Bahat D. 1994. The Western Wall Tunnels. Qadmoniot 101-102:38-48 [Hebrew];
Bahat D. 2007. Innovations in the Research of the Western Wall Tunnels.
Qadmoniot 133:41-47 [Hebrew]). After 1967, the Ministry of Religious Affairs
conducted work in the cavities of the Great Causeway and the Secret Passage,
which have since come to be known by the popular name of 'The Western Wall
Tunnels'. This work included removing soil, as well as repairing and
supporting the ancient vaults. M. Ben-Dov accompanied the work of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs in the Western Wall tunnels until 1985
(Ben-Dov M. 1982. The Underground Vaults West of the Western Wall. Qardom
21-23:102-105 [Hebrew]; Ben-Dov M. 1983. The Fortifications of Jerusalem:
The City Walls, the Gates and the Temple Mount. Tel Aviv, p. 146 [Hebrew]).
D. Bahat directed the archaeological research in the Western Wall tunnels
during 1986-2007 (Bahat D. 1994; 2007; Bahat D. and Solomon A. 2002.
Innovations in the Excavations of the Western Wall Tunnels. In: Judea and
Samaria Research Studies, Vol. 11:175-186 [Hebrew]; Bahat D. and Solomon A.
2004. An Ancient Miqve in the Western Wall Tunnels. In E. Baruch, U. Leibner
and A. Faust (eds.) New Studies on Jerusalem, Ninth Volume, Ramat Gan, pp.
83-105 [Hebrew]). Since 2007, A. Onn, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities
Authority, has been responsible for the work undertaken inside the Western
Wall tunnels. Since this report was submitted, other excavations were
undertaken in rooms 4, 9, 10 of the Great Causeway and in room 22, under
rooms 9, 10. The finds from these excavations will be published in the
future. During the twentieth century, several small-scale excavations were
conducted north and south of the Great Causeway, as well as below it. Most
of these excavations were related to repairs of the municipal drainage
system, extending along the main roads that cross the area: Ha-G&#257;y
Street (El-Wad) and the Street of the Chain. R.W. Hamilton and C. Jones
excavated on Ha-G&#257;y Street, next to where the street passes beneath
the vaults of the Great Causeway; they exposed the pavement of a street that
has been identified with the eastern Roman-Byzantine cardo (Hamilton R.W.
1932. Street Levels in Tyropoeon Valley. QDAP 1:105-110; Hamilton R.W. 1933.
Street Levels in Tyropoeon Valley, II. QDAP 2:34-40; Johns C.N. 1932.
Jerusalem: Ancient Street Levels in the Tyropoeon Valley within the Walls.
QDAP 1:97-100). Other remains of the eastern Roman-Byzantine cardo were
recently discovered in Ohel Yizhaq and in the Western Wall Plaza, north and
south of the Great Causeway (Barbe H. H. and De'adle T. 2006. Jerusalem-Ohel
Yizhaq. In E. Baruch, Z. Greenhut and A. Faust (eds.) New Studies on
Jerusalem 11:19*- 29*; HA-ESI 121; Weksler-Bdolah S., Onn A. and
Rosenthal-Heginbottom R. 2009. The Eastern Cardo and Wilson's Arch in Light
of the New Excavations: The Remains from the Second Temple Period and the
Roman Period. In L. Di Segni, Y. Hirschfeld, R. Talgam and Y. Patrich
(eds.). Man Near a Roman Arch. Studies Presented to Professor Yoram Tsafrir.
Jerusalem, pp. 135-159; Weksler-Bdolah S. and Onn A. 2010. Remains of the
Eastern Roman Cardo in the Western Wall Plaza. Qadmoniot 140:123-132
[Hebrew]). Street remains paved with flagstones that date to the Roman
period were exposed on the Street of the Chain, above the top of the Great
Causeway, (ESI 10:134-136; ESI 16:104-106). The street has been identified
with the decumanus from the time of Aelia Capitolina (Tsafrir Y. 1999. The
Topography and Archaeology of Aelia Capitolina. In Y. Tsafrir and S. Safrai
[eds.]. The Jerusalem Book, The Roman and Byzantine Period 70-638 CE, p. 146
[Hebrew]; Kloner A. 2006. Dating the Southern Lateral Street [the Southern
Decumanus] of Aelia Capitolina and Wilson's Arch. New Studies on Jerusalem
11:239-247 [Hebrew]). Part of a monumental staircase from the Second Temple
period was exposed above the top of Wilson's Arch and above its western pier
(ESI 16:104-106).