As king, David built a palace in Jerusalem, located near the Gihon Spring. a This is what is now known as the City of David. Jerusalem, in David's day was located south of the old city as it is now walled. It was it's own little mount with valley's on each side. The location of the temple which was built by his son, Solomon, was just up the next hill, the highest place in Jerusalem, also surrounded by it's own valleys.
Many of the what used to be valleys have been, over time, filled either with refuse, or structures. As one civilization was destroyed by enemies, the structures were pushed off over the sides of the hills, eventually somewhat leveling the ground. It is difficult now to even imagine Jerusalem as it was in the day of David, but this photo is from the model city of Jerusalem showing what it would have looked like after Solomon built the temple. You will see just the bottom of the temple mount with the City of David below. You can also see that it is not a very large area. The valley you see to the east is the Kidron Valley. It rises up to the right to become the Mount of Olives.
From Wikipedia: "In the ancient pre-Israelite period, the area was separated from the site of the later Temple Mount by the Ophel, an uninhabited area which became the seat of government under Israelite rule. During the reign of Hezekiah, the walls of the city were expanded westward, enclosing a previously unwalled suburb in the area now known as the Old City of Jerusalem, west of the Temple Mount.
There have been extensive archeological activities since I first saw the City of David. This is part of the large stone structure that has been identified as remains of the Palace David may have built.
I am very excited to see this area as it is now open for visitors to view exciting finds from this time which has long been covered. For a look at what we hope to visit, see http://www.bibleplaces.com/areag.htm
It is sad to know that the City of David was even a dumping ground of the later city's garbage.
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