Recently, a group of archaeologists found in the Parking lot archaeological excavation Givati, adjacent to the City of David archaeological site, discovered a massive moat more than 3.500 years old that separates the City of David from the upper sections of the Temple Mount and the Ophel (hill south of the Temple Mount).
Following the discovery, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University, with the financial support of the Elad Association, studied the cliffs and verified that they marked the northern limit of the lower city's fortifications.
Yuval Gadot, from Tel Aviv University, and Yiftach Shalu, from the Antiquities Authority, explained that the moat dates back to the time of King Josiah, during the reign of the Kingdom of Judah, and that it functioned to separate the city extending towards the south, where the inhabitants of Jerusalem resided, from the Acropolis to the north, where the palace and the Temple Mount were located.