Archaeologists astonished as 'dramatic' evidence of Biblical earthquake found in Jerusalem

The dig was carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which oversees all archaeological operations in the Holy Land.

The excavations in the City of David, which is believed to be the de facto centre of ancient Jerusalem, were led by IAA excavation directors Dr Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf.

The archaeologists said: “When we excavated the structure and uncovered an eighth-century BCE layer of destruction, we were very surprised because we know that Jerusalem continued to exist in succession until the Babylonian destruction, which occurred about 200 years later.”

“We asked ourselves what could have caused that dramatic layer of destruction we uncovered.

“Examining the excavation findings, we tried to check if there is a reference to it in the Biblical text.”