Ancient relics are the first definite sign of King David

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For the first time, archaeologists have delved into the lives of ancient Biblical kings - exploring a shrine that pre-dates Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem by three or four decades.

It's the first evidence of a Judaic religion in the area at the time of King David - with the inhabitants of the ruins observing a ban on pork and on 'graven images' of animals or humans.

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, the Yigal Yadin Professor of Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University excavated at Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city in Judah adjacent to the Valley of Elah, and found pottery, stone and metal tools, and many art and cult objects.

Because these shrines pre-date the construction of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem by 30 to 40 years, they provide the first physical evidence of a Judaic religion in the time of King David.

The implications are huge - for archaeologists, biblical experts and the religious.

Located approximately 18 miles. southwest of Jerusalem in the valley of Elah, Khirbet Qeiyafa was a border city of the Kingdom of Judah opposite the Philistine city of Gath.

The city, which was dated by 10 radiometric measurements (14C) done at Oxford University on burned olive pits, existed for a short period of time between ca. 1020 to 980 BCE, and was violently destroyed.