A recent archaeological excavation outside Jerusalem has uncovered a gate, tower and wall that might have been part of Solomon’s Temple 3,000 years ago.

Pottery shards found by Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University and her team of archaeologists during excavation are purported to be from the 10th century B.C.

The dating of the ancient fortifications place the structures during the time of the first temple built by King David’s son Solomon as mentioned in 1 Kings 5 and indicates that a powerful centralized governing body existed in ancient Jerusalem, according to the Washington Post.

Also found during the excavation, according to National Geographic, were large storage vessels and typical 10th century statues such as animals and fertility symbols all bearing Hebrew inscriptions indicating ownership by high-ranking government officials.

The Wailing Wall as it stands in Jerusalem today may be part of Solomon's Temple.

The only visible remnant of the Temple today is the Wailing Wall. There is some disagreement among archaeologists and historians as to whether it was part of this original Temple or the rebuild by Herod.

Though, according to an Associated Press report, Mazar said this is her most significant find, she is not without her critics.

The Israeli online publication Haaretz reported that naysayers in the archaeological and rabbinical communities feel that most biblical events are myth and Mazar is trying to make connections that aren’t really there.

The battle between those who believe that the Bible is an accurate record of history and those who do not runs deep within the scholarly community.

Skeptics have tried to disprove biblical events since the days in which they occurred, while others claim to have many pieces of evidence that have stood the test of time.

For example, though the Dead Sea Scrolls—more than 800 ancient documents found between 1947 and 1956 in caves near the sea in Qumran—have been used to by some to authenticate manuscripts such as Isaiah and therefore “prove” the accuracy and consistency of the Bible,  there are some scholars who say that the scrolls do nothing more than give scholars a view into the life of a religious sect, which may or may not have been the Essenes.

“[The Dead Sea Scrolls] speak of a Teacher of Righteousness and a pierced messiah, of cleansing through water and a battle of light against darkness. But anyone looking to the Dead Sea Scrolls in search of proof, say, that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah presaged by the prophets, or that John the Baptist lived among the scroll’s authors, will be disappointed,” says an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“What the scrolls provide instead, scholars say, is a window into a world of religious ferment 2,000 years ago that gave rise to Judaism and Christianity as we know them today.”