King David palace may have been found

Eilat Mazar uncovered a major public building from around the 10th century B.C., with pottery shards that date to the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah, reported the New York Times.

The find might be used in the battle over whether Jews have their roots in Jerusalem or, as many Palestinians say, the idea of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a myth used to justify conquest and occupation.

The find may be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites or some other structure.

"This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, an archaeologist from Bar-Ilan University. "This is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century."

Copyright 2005 by United Press International