Givat Ram
Givat Ram (Template:Lang-he-n is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem, Israel. The Knesset and Israeli government offices are located in Givat Ram, as are the Israel Museum, the Bible Lands Museum, the Bloomfield Science Museum, one of the campuses of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the National Library of Israel, the Israeli Supreme Court and the Binyanei HaUma convention center.
Etymology
Ram is a Hebrew acronym for Rikuz Mifakdim - Hebrew: גבעת ריכוז-מפקדים, lit. Officers assembly hill[1][2] Givat Ram also means "mighty hill."
History
Before Israel's War of Independence in 1948, the area was known by the Arabs as Sheikh Badr. In December 1949, the Israeli government headed by David Ben-Gurion, passed a resolution to build a government precinct in Jerusalem. Givat Ram, a hill in the west of the city, which had been an assembly point for the Gadna Youth Battalions, was chosen for this purpose. The topography of the site, made up of three ridges, meshed with the idea of establishing three clusters of buildings - the government precinct, a university campus and a museum. [3]
Archaeological findings
The first salvage excavation was conducted before Binyanei HaUma was built, in July- August 1949, by M. Avi-Yonah, who unearthed hewn installations, cisterns and pools of various sizes dating to the Herodian period, bricks and tiles bearing stamps of the Tenth Roman Legion, and the remains of a monastery.
In May-June 1968, before a new hotel (then the Hilton) was built south of Binyanei HaUma, Avi-Yonah conducted a second salvage excavation. He found remains of an oval-shaped potter's kiln, a preparation area for clay, and a deep water cistern. The area had been covered by a thick layer of plaster upon which were found large mortaria and many bricks, some bearing stamps of the Tenth Legion.
During the work on a new international convention center east of Binyanei HaUma, a large salvage excavation was conducted in April-September 1992 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, but roughly 60% of the parking lot area had already been dug up by bulldozers.
In July 1993, a small excavation in the northwestern corner dismantled kilns of the Tenth Legion and lifted a mosaic floor of the Byzantine period. [4]
References
- ^ Yad Ben Zvi website (Hebrew) [1]
- ^ Jerusalem Municipality website [2]
- ^ http://www.google.com/search?q=givat+ram&hl=en&sourceid=gd&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2006-01,GGLD:en
- ^ Excavations on the Site of the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyanei Ha'uma): Pottery and Other Small Finds, Arubas and Goldfus