Jebusites, Who Are You?

The inhabitants of Jerusalem in this period before the time of David are known in the Bible as Jebusites. Some scholars believe that the Jebusites were of Indo-European origin, and that they came to the city at this time as part of the general transformations in the ancient Near East. Others maintain that the Jebusites were none other than the ancient inhabitants of the city from the Middle and the Late Bronze Age. Special storage jars, typical of this period and known as “collared-rim jars,” were found in Jerusalem. Fragments of a cultic stand were also discovered, possibly from this period, depicting a bearded man apparently carrying an animal on his shoulders. On the eastern slope of the City of David, apparently in at this same time, a huge stepped stone structure was built, to support buildings that have not survived. Some scholars believe that this structure should be dated to the time of David and Solomon in the tenth century BCE.