Exclusive: Dumped Temple Mount Rubble Yields Jewish
Artifacts Wednesday, April 13, 2005 / 4
Nisan 5765
A historic
excavation has been taking place in an eastern Jerusalem valley for the
past six months: the first-ever archaeological examination of the Temple
Mount.
Arutz-7's Ezra HaLevi has taken an
exclusive inside look into one of the most important and unique
archaeological explorations in history - currently in danger of going
unfinished due to lack of funding.
Click to hear the related Israel National Radio
interview
In November 1999, the Islamic Wakf carried out an
illegal construction project on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
The unsupervised digging caused irreparable damage to the important site,
as well as to untold priceless artifacts contained in rubble removed
during the construction and dumped clandestinely in the Kidron Valley.
Though the archaeological remains were no longer in their original
contexts, they held enormous potential to shed light on the undocumented
human history of the Temple Mount, as systematic archaeological excavation
or scientific study have never taken place there. The mounds of dirt in
the Kidron Valley therefore contained the only available data from the
Temple Mount to which modern archaeologists have ever had access.
During the illegal excavations and dumping on and from the Temple
Mount, the police and the government Antiquities Authority refused to
interfere, citing concerns of violence by Muslims who deny that Temples
ever stood on the Temple Mount. Tzachi Zweig, then an archaeology student,
called a press conference to publicize the extent of the archaeological
havoc being perpetrated. Zweig caused a stir in the media by displaying an
assortment of artifacts that he had easily scooped out of the piles.
The story elicited outrage across the political spectrum in
Israel, and this was followed by temporary restrictions on the free access
of heavy construction equipment on the Temple Mount. The dirt itself into
which the Waqf had mixed garbage was meanwhile ignored, and the
Antiquities Authority refused to fund an examination of the tons of
rubble.
Prominent archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai decided to
undertake the task of sifting through the 70 truckloads of Temple Mount
dirt in order to rescue as much archaeological information from the
destruction as possible.
“What they did was an archaeological
disaster," Barkai told Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai
Fleisher. "That material is the only material available from the Temple
Mount."
Private donations were gathered, and Zweig and
Barkai proceeded to bring truckloads of earth to the Tzurim Valley
National Park, located on the western slope of Mount Scopus, just below
Hebrew University and the Maaleh Adumim tunnel.
The work was done
quietly. "Anything in Jerusalem is politically charged," Barkai said.
"Anything connected with the Temple Mount is even more sensitive. If our
activity would have been known at the beginning, our work might have been
jeopardized by unfriendly elements."
Using a mechanical sifter, the
rubble was first separated into heaps consisting of material of differing
sizes. The piles were then sifted by hand.
The work at the
site was at first conducted primarily by volunteers who heard of the
project by word of mouth and through Jerusalem-based email lists. Soon,
groups from schools or other programs began pitching in for a few hours at
a time. Eventually, Zweig began paying some of the more dedicated
volunteers to work full-time, and since then, progress has increased
significantly.
“The very act of spending time and making the
effort to examine debris just because it originates from the Temple Mount
transmits a very powerful message to the general public and to the world
as a whole about the importance of the place,” Dr. Barkai said, likening
the painstaking examination of the Temple Mount rubble to the respect
given to a dead corpse by burying it.
He said the project is of
particular importance due to the Islamic Waqf efforts to perpetrate
something that he says is worse than Holocaust denial. "There is a
phenomenon of Temple denial," Barkai said. "I just heard [Arab] MK
Dahamshe this week in the Knesset denying that there were ever temples on
the Temple Mount. It is a part of the cultural Intifada. I think it is
just as serious as Holocaust denial. This intifada started in Joseph’s
tomb and is trying to deny Jewish rights to the country."
The
sifting and examinations have already yielded important artifacts from
various periods, starting from the First Temple period until today. Among
the discoveries so far:
* During the first days of the
project, a coin was recovered from the time of the Great Revolt against
the Romans, preceding the destruction of the Second Temple. It bore the
Hebrew phrase L’Herut Tzion, “For the Freedom of Zion.” The find
was particularly meaningful, as the Temple Mount itself was one of the
focal points of the Revolt.
* A few days later, on the eve of
Chanukah, workers discovered the “pinched style” spout of a Hasmonaean
lamp.
* Several weeks later, on the Tenth of Teveth - one of the
fast days commemorating events that lead to the destruction of the First
Temple - a crusader arrowhead was discovered. Though this was from a later
period than the Temple’s destruction, arrowheads were subsequently
recovered from earlier periods.
* An unexpected find, due to the
Waqf’s removal of almost all large artifacts, was a large segment of a
marble pillar’s shaft - one meter tall and 60 cm in diameter, streaked
with purple veins and white spots. There is another segment of a column
shaft with a similar texture lying in a heap of various marble column
shafts near the southern wall within the Temple Mount. Both fragments seem
to be from the same pillar.
* A large amount of pottery
shards were discovered. Some 10-20 percent of it stems from the time of
the First Temple period, and a small amount comes from the Second Temple
period.
* Animal bones - remnants of sacrifices.
* A number
of mosaic tiles and prehistoric flint implements.
* An inscription
chiseled on a jar fragment of the First Temple period, with the ancient
Hebrew letters “Heh,” “Ayin” and “Kof.”
* A seal
impression from the Hellenistic period showing a five-pointed star with
the ancient Hebrew letters spelling “Jerusalem” spaced between the points.
About 30 such impressions have been found in Jerusalem on handles from the
Hellenistic period (3rd century BCE). This was apparently a kind of
official stamp from a period about which very little is known.
*
Numerous ceramic oil lamps were found. The most common among them are
“Herodian lamps” from the time of the Second Temple. Another frequently
found lamp is the “sandal” type, characteristic of the late Byzantine
period (6-7th century CE). Many are decorated menorah
patterns.
* About 100 ancient coins, including several from
the period of the Hasmonaean dynasty. One of the Hasmonean coins bears an
inscription “Yehonatan High Priest, friend of the Jews.” On the other side
is a cornucopia with a pomegranate in the center. Another coin is of
Alexander Jannaeus. One side has the design of an anchor and the other
side a star.
* A fragment of a figurine from the First Temple
period.
* A Scytho-Iranian arrowhead, of the type used by the
Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar that destroyed the First Temple in 586
BCE. Very few such arrowheads have been found in Jerusalem.
* A
bronze arrowhead from the Hellenistic period, possibly a remnant left by
the Seleucid forces that were stationed in the Akra fortress, or by
soldiers of Shimon the Maccabee, who liberated the Temple Mount.
*
An ivory comb, apparently from the Second Temple period. Similar combs
have been found at Qumran, and it is probable that they were used as
preparation for ritual purification in a mikveh (ritual bath), prior to
entering the Temple courts.
“Our prime intent is to collect all
man-made relics so that later we will be able to conduct a more intensive
study based on quantitative analyses,” Barkai said. “By these studies we
may learn more about the level of activity on the Temple Mount during the
different periods, and the characteristics of each period. Another plan is
to sort the bones, identify the various animal species, and date some of
them by Carbon-14 analysis.”
Because such a sensitive excavation
of material had never before taken place, and because the material had
been purposely mixed with garbage and other matter, Zweig and Barkai had a
difficult time estimating how much time the excavation would take. Despite
six months of work, to date only 15% of the rubble has been examined.
“We had to develop the work methods ourselves as we
progressed,” Zweig said. They now estimate that it will take four more
months to finish sifting all of the material, but their initial grant of
$65,000 has nearly run out. $61,000 more is needed to finish the project,
something the two say could be accomplished by the end of the summer using
the methods they now use.
For information and to assist the
project, contact:
"zachism@miac.com"
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