The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity in Jerusalem dates back to the Chalcolithic period. In the area of the City of David, Jerusalem’s historic nucleus, a number of isolated potsherds from this period which had drifted into natural pits along the western slope of the City of David near the Gihon Spring were unearthed. These findings likely indicate the nomadic nature of the populations that lived near the hillside during the Chalcolithic period.