Large wooden roof beams burned during the destruction of First Beis Hamikdash-period Yerushalayim have been uncovered in the City of David, archaeologists announced Monday. The beams were found at the Givati Parking Lot excavation in a destruction layer associated with the Babylonian conquest of Yerushalayim in 586 BCE.

Excavation director Dr. Efrat Bocher said the beams likely supported the roof of an internal courtyard before collapsing during the fire. “It appears that these beams, which were probably used to roof an internal courtyard in a First Temple-period building, collapsed onto the building’s floor during the destruction,” she said. “We believe that plaster covering the walls melted during the fire, covered the charred wooden beams and helped preserve them so exceptionally.”

The discovery is considered unusual because wood rarely survives in Israel with a substantial number of visible growth rings. Dr. Johanna Regev of the Israel Antiquities Authority said the thick beams could allow researchers to narrow the dating of the building and its destruction to approximately 10 years. Scientific analysis remains underway, and researchers have not yet independently confirmed the exact year the beams burned.

The beams were found inside a large First Beis Hamikdash-period structure whose purpose remains unknown, though archaeologists believe it may have served an important public or administrative function. Excavation directors Dr. Yiftah Shalev and Prof. Yuval Gadot said the evidence shows the building “was deliberately burned and collapsed all at once.”

Residents later returned during the Persian period, blocking the ruined section while continuing to live elsewhere in the structure. Archaeologists believe part of the destruction may have been deliberately preserved as a place of memory. The building previously yielded a seal impression reading “Natan-Melech, Servant of the King,” a name also appearing in the Sefer Melachim.

Announced shortly before Tisha B’Av, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said: “On the eve of Tisha B’Av, this discovery reminds us that our connection to Yerushalayim is not only one of faith, but also of history, archaeology and national memory. Our responsibility is to continue uncovering the truth, preserving it and proudly passing it on to future generations.”