In Nehemiah 3:1–15, limits to a volunteer’s responsibility were marked by features of the wall itself. In Nehemiah 3:16–32, landmarks close to the wall are listed to describe where a given volunteer laboured. That suggests that the wall Nehemiah constructed, specifically on the steep side of the mount, was not on the same footings as the original wall. We ought not to discount that (considerable?) erosion may have occurred on this steep slope in the 140 years since the wall was destroyed. Hints gleaned from Nehemiah’s descriptions in the verses that follow nudge us to conclude that the reconstructed wall was located uphill from the historic wall, probably following the top edge of the slope.
16 After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men.