A team of Israeli archaeologists thinks it has found the ruins of a palace belonging to the biblical King David, but other Israeli experts dispute the claim.
Archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel's Antiquities Authority say their find, a large complex west of Jerusalem at Khirbet Qeiyafa, is the first palace of the king ever discovered. Yossi Garfinkel of the university suggested David would have used the site. Garfinkel led the dig with the authority's Saar Ganor.
Garfinkel said his team found cultic objects typically used by Judeans, David's subjects, and saw no trace of pig remains. Pork is forbidden under Jewish dietary laws.
The consensus among scholars is that no definitive physical proof of David's existence has been found.
Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University agreed that Khirbet Qeiyafa is an "elaborate" and "well-fortified" 10th century BC site, but said it could have been built by Philistines or Canaanites. There was no way to verify who built the site without finding a monument about the king who built it.
