Has King David's Palace been Found?

I spoke this past Friday night about an Israeli archeologist named Eilat Mazar who feels she may have uncovered what might be the remains of King David's palace in Jerusalem. Some of you may have seen the first page article in the Washington Post describing the find. This is an issue with not only archeological ramifications, but Biblical and political ones as well. In terms of the Biblical ramifications, there is a raging debate about the accuracy of the Bible in general and the size and extent of the ancient Jewish kingdoms and Jerusalem in particular. A group known as "minimalists" believe that Biblical accounts are greatly embellished and that Jerusalem was little more than 'a hick town' in the time of David. If it could be shown that there existed a sizable building there (even if it were not 'a palace'!) in David's time, that would indicate that the city might have more closely approximated the Bible's description.

In terms of the political ramifications, the site of Mazar's excavation is on land captured by Israel in 1967 which the Palestinians claim. The discovery of a sizable Jerusalem in David's time would certainly strengthen Israel's claim of Jewish presence there for millennia.

That's it for this brief review of the current situation vis-a-vis Mazar's claim. I'll keep you updated.