Towards an Inclusive Archaeology in Jerusalem: The Case of Silwan/The City of David

Abstract

The village of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, contains the remains of most ancient Jerusalem, often termed "The City of David". In recent years the excavation and presentation of the archaeology of Silwan has been placed in the hands of a Jewish settler non-governmental organization. Their incorporation of this site into the Jewish-Israeli narrative is multifaceted -mixing religious nationalism with theme-park tourism. As a result, confl ict with local Palestinians occurs at the very basic level of existence, where the past is used to disenfranchise and displace people in the present. The volatile mix of history, religion and politics in the City of David/Silwan threatens any future reconciliation in Jerusalem, which must be based on the empowerment of local people and the adoption of a proactive inclusive archaeological stance in which the many voices of the past are heard.

We wanted to take real information: public engagement and regional survey at Petra, Jordan

“…Blakey 2008; Atalay 2012), as well as activist archaeology (e.g. Greenberg 2009;Little and Zimmerman 2010;Stottman 2010). Our project's public engagement aims are twofold: to construct complex, multivocal and inclusive narratives about the Petra region and to advocate community involvement in future archaeological, conservation and development initiatives.…”

Contemporary Dimension of Heritage Promotion – Towards Socially Engaged Archaeology

“…More and more scholars are also suggesting that archaeology, like other fields of study, is not an 'innocent discipline' and that it does not produce a 'pure knowledge' (Said 2005). On the contrary, it influences society in a physical way, through the impact of work in the field, as well as in an ideological way, in changing perceptions of a given place, cultural heritage and the past (Hodder 2003;Sroka, Rączkowski 2003, MintaTworzowska and Olędzki 2006, Greenberg 2009Ireland and Schofield 2015).…”

“…In consequence, today it is difficult to study and assess the efficiency and potential social impact of such activities in popularising archaeological knowledge. Raphael Greenberg (2009) proposed a different way of conducting and popularizing archaeological research, stressing the importance of preparing society for the archaeologist's entrance into the local community's area. Taking this into account we present in this article the results of the project "Applied archaeology: society -past -remote-sensing", conducted in 2013 in the villages of Bieniów and Biedrzychowice Dolne in the province of Lubuskie.…”

Structural Violence as Political Experience in Palestine: An Archaeology of the Past in the Present

“…Notable about this case is that the militant Israeli settler organization El'ad, an NGO, is currently sub-contracting the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) for carrying out large-scale excavations in Silwan. These archaeological projects are ultimately supposed to support the settlers' claims to a biblical right to what is referred to as the 'City of David' (Greenberg, 2009). …”

“…One project in Israel-Palestine that could be placed within the realm of an auto-archaeology of sorts, is pioneering here: Greenberg andKeinan (2007 and …”