About 100m down from the entrance to the City of David there’s a small museum with photos of the most recent excavations. A spiral staircase leads down to Warren’s Shaft. With a flashlight you’ll be able to see the entire length of the walls that Joab scaled. (Open Sun.-Thurs. 8am4pm, Fri. 8am-2pm. Admission NIS2.50.)

To witness excavations in progress, walk out of Dung Gate, turn left and walk downhill to the City of David entrance, on your right just past the UNRWA office. The excavations in this particular area of the Ophel, called Section G, were halted in 1981 when a group of Orthodox Jews protested that the area might once have been the Jewish cemetery mentioned in the diaries of several medieval pilgrims. After considerable political and sometimes violent ballyhoo, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the site should be closed. As a compromise the Israeli government ordered that digging could continue under rabbinic supervision, but no bones have been found. Though numbered and labeled, the ruins adjacent to the route are dis-combobulated.

Four tombs are located down Shiloah Way, in the Kidron Valley. The first, Absalom’s Pillar, is named by legend as the tomb of David’s favored but rebellious son (II Samuel 15-18). Behind it and to the left is the Tomb of Jehosaphat. A dirt path on the left leads to the impressive rock-hewn Tomb of B’nei Hezir and the Tomb of Zekhariah.