JERUSALEM — There's some earth-shattering news out of Israel about an earthquake that occurred 2,800 years ago that is sending shockwaves around the world. That’s because researchers can now confirm, thanks to evidence recently uncovered in the City of David National Park, that the famous earthquake also hit Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah at the time. While evidence of the earthquake has been discovered at other sites around Israel, this is the first time that researchers can confirm that it also damaged Jerusalem.
Archaeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the City of David National Park revealed a layer of destruction, including a row of shattered bowls, lamps, cooking utensils and storage and storage jars. 

Above: Dr. Joe Uziel, left, and Ortal Chalaf led the team that unearthed the biblical earthquake findings.

According to the researchers, since no signs of fire were found, this was not a deliberate event and the reason for the collapse of the building is the earthquake that occurred during the period of the Kingdom of Judah.
Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf, who headed up the excavation work on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, were somewhat “surprised” by the findings.
"When we excavated the structure and uncovered an 8th-century BCE layer of destruction, we were very surprised, because we know that Jerusalem continued to exist in succession until the Babylonian destruction, which occurred about 200 years later,” said the researchers.

Above: The team dug deep and discovered some ancient treasures that confirm the historic earthquake.

“We asked ourselves what could have caused that dramatic layer of destruction we uncovered? Examining the excavation findings, we tried to check if there is a reference to it in the biblical text.
“Interestingly, the earthquake that appears in the Bible in the books of Amos and Zechariah, occurred at the time when the building we excavated in the City of David collapsed,” they continued.
“The combination of the finds in the field together with the biblical description, led us to the conclusion that the earthquake that struck the Land of Israel during the reign of Uzziah King of Judah, also hit the capital of the kingdom — Jerusalem."
According to the researchers, the earthquake was probably one of the strongest and most damaging of ancient times.