![The first of the giant stone water storage jars to be discovered. The pieces of this jar were dug up in the 1930's in Jerusalem's Old City by R. W. Hamilton, director of the mandatory Palestine Department of Antiquities. Until the "Burnt House" excavations in 1969, one one other jar of this type had come to light.]](http://www.jerusalemperspective.com/wp-content/uploads/1995/07/SixStone-2.jpg)
In December 1969 we started to dig in Area B of the Jewish Quarter excavations. The late Professor Nahman Avigad directed the excavations, and Ami Mazar, now Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, was Area Supervisor. When Ami was called up for reserve army duty, I replaced him.
As the work advanced, we discovered that the building in Area B was destroyed in a violent fire. We soon named this building the “Burnt House.” The fire had caused the buildings walls to collapse, trapping under them everything that had been in the house. From the pottery vessels and coins found in the building (the latest of the coins were minted in the fourth year of the Jewish revolt against Rome, 69 C.E.), we concluded that the building, along with the entire city of Jerusalem, was destroyed in the year 70 C.E.
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