Geophysical exploration of Location and course of the Herodian city wall under the present-day Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem: Confirmation of a new hypothesis

该项目的考古目标是通过确认耶路撒冷城墙的存在，结束自希律王大帝时期以来150年来对耶路撒冷城墙的不成功搜索，从而允许重建其正确的位置和排列。这座建筑的过程多次引起争议-犹太历史学家约瑟夫斯·弗拉维乌斯将其称为“第二堵墙”-对于耶路撒冷从希罗德时期到公元70年8月城市被摧毁的历史地形来说，是至关重要的。希罗底亚城市扩张的问题也严重影响了耶路撒冷犹太和基督教地形的重建(希罗德城和弗拉维厄斯·约瑟夫斯的描述)，特别是新约中描述的多洛罗萨大道和哥哥大受难地点的本地化。面对由于所有权争议、完全城市化和联合国教科文组织的限制，耶路撒冷的勘探限制极其严格，几十年来激烈讨论的耶路撒冷城市发展的关键问题必须通过探地雷达的地球物理勘探来解决。为此，在30…200 MHz的频段使用测深波，以确保良好的穿透土壤，同时获得良好的距离分辨率。因此，必须实施一种新的探地雷达概念，以满足城市测量环境(天线尺寸、对无线电通信的干扰)的限制。这项任务的特殊挑战是电磁波的异常测量条件和复杂的传播条件。这既是住房密度的结果，也是试验区空间限制的结果。最初的假设是基于这样一个事实，即隔离墙位于救世主教堂下方的一个挖掘地点附近。这一假设尚未得到证实。另一方面，已经在耶路撒冷市区进行的探地雷达测量给出了略微改进的墙层的新迹象。这一点必须通过进一步的测量来证实。为此，勘探区域相应扩大，现在调查中也必须包括楼梯状结构的胡同。街道狭窄、阶梯状路面和污水系统是探地雷达测量的主要挑战。这将通过新的设备概念和各种扫描方法来考虑。探地雷达装置的原理主要是基于超宽带伪噪声技术和“大电流散热器”的概念相结合。它能够有效地馈送尺寸非常紧凑的发射天线。

The archaeological goal of the project is to close a 150 year period of unsuccessful search of the city wall of Jerusalem from the time of Herod the Great by confirming its existence and thus to permit the reconstruct of its correct location and arrangement. The many times controversial discussed course of the building – referred to as the "Second Wall" by the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius – is of paramount importance for the historical topography of Jerusalem from the Herodian period until the destruction of the city in August 70 AD. The question of the Herodian city expansion also has a serious impact on the reconstruction of the Jewish and Christian topography of Jerusalem (Herodian city and descriptions of Flavius Josephus), especially on the localization of the Via Dolorosa described in the New Testament and the crucifixion place Golgotha.In face of the extremely strong exploration restrictions in Jerusalem due to disputed ownership, complete urbanization and UNESCO constraints, the intensely over decades discussed key question on Urban Development of Jerusalem has to be solved by geophysical prospection via Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). For this purpose, sounding waves in the frequency band of 30 ... 200 MHz are used to ensure good penetration into the soil while simultaneously achieving good distance resolution. Therefore a new GPR concept has to be implemented in order to meet the limitations through the urban measurement environment (antenna size, interference with radio communication).The special challenge of the task is the unusual measuring conditions and the complex propagation conditions of the electromagnetic sounding waves. These result both from the housing density and the spatial limitations of the test area. An original assumption was based on the fact that the wall was located near an excavation site below the Church of the Redeemer. This assumption has not yet been confirmed. On the other hand, the already performed GPR measurements in the urban area of Jerusalem have given new indications for a slightly modified wall course. This must be confirmed by further measurements. For this purpose, the exploration area is expanded correspondingly so that now also alleys with a stairs-like structure have to be included in the investigations. The narrowness of the streets, their stepped course and the sewage system are major challenges for a GPR measurement. This is to be taken into account with a novel device concept and various scanning methods. The principle of the GPR-device is primarily based on a combination of ultra-wideband pseudo-noise technology with the concept of "Large Current Radiator". It enables an efficient feeding of the transmitting antenna which is of very compact size.