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The Temple Mount sieving project and the study of archaeological discoveries in the debris of the illicit construction project carried out by Waqf religious authorities are undoubtedly one of the most important national projects since the creation of the state of Israel. This is a unique opportunity to investigate the findings of the Temple Mount, but the Israeli government has squandered the opportunity.
Despite its sanctity to the Jewish people and the role played by the Temple Mount throughout our history. is one of the most archaeologically excavated cities in the world, no systematic archaeological excavation has ever been carried out on the Temple Mount, due to the opposition of the Muslim Waqf.
The Temple Mount Screening Project, which is being carried out by the Israeli Archeology Foundation, headed by Zachi Dvira and Dr. Gabriel Barkay, is the closest thing to that. The discoveries discovered during the last 13 years of the study, represent the first archaeological data from the Temple Mount itself.
Illegal Construction
The excavation of debris from the construction of Solomon's precincts on Temple Mount is a story of greed, political maneuvering, of religious feelings and national pride, combined with a battle of
It began as an attempt to establish facts on the ground, with the desire to stand out from sovereignty and to predetermine the negotiations between Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s. According to Arab sources, who ask to remain anonymous, this was done with the recommendation of the representatives on the Israeli side. It was at this time that Muslim clerics and members of the PA began to deny the historical connection between Judaism and the Temple Mount.
Between 1996 and 1999, the Waqf, along with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, renovated the large underground structure called "Stables of Solomon", located in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, along with the lighthouse. intention to turn it into a big mosque. This was done illegally and without archeological surveillance. The name of the structure dates back to the Crusader period, which served as a stable for Knights Templar, built on the ruins of the Second Temple era, whose center was in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Islamic organizations used heavy machinery to dig a huge pit for the mosque's main entrance. The work has caused extensive damage to antiquities and valuable archaeological information has been lost. In addition, a large area north of Solomon's Stables was bulldozed with heavy tools to make way for a balcony that was paved.
Mbadive amounts of earth were removed from the site. About 400 truck loads containing over 9,000 tons of dirt have hidden archaeological remains from periods throughout the history of the Temple Mount. The earth was evacuated and dumped in various places in the city of Jerusalem, particularly in the Kidron Valley.
The Waqf and the Arabs hastened to mark sovereignty over the Mount, to prevent archaeological monitoring and even to remove the Waqf archaeologist. who was sent on special leave. Their purpose was to prevent the discovery of artifacts that would verify the existence of an ancient Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. They were only partially successful though. Since the Temple Mount is not accessible to any archaeological research, soil finds are now used as a unique source of archaeological knowledge, which was previously inaccessible.
The layers of land that have accumulated over generations north of Solomon's Stables included waste, garbage and debris from various works that have been carried out on the Temple Mount over the last 1000 years. The origins of the evacuated and excavated soil come from various locations throughout the Temple Mount, and the discoveries found there represent a representative sample of the activity carried out on the compound throughout its history.
Public Concealment
From the beginning, the Israeli law enforcement and security services, acting under the instruction of the highest political echelon, tried to hide from the public what was going on in the Temple Mount and especially the extent of leveled destruction.
The removal of debris from the construction site was also done in violation of the Antiquities Act and in defiance of law enforcement and the government of Israel. Proper archaeological digs require meticulous recording of the location and connection to the discovered objects, which are meticulously collected. In this case, the findings were violently removed from their location without any documentation.
Yitzhak Dvira and Oren Yardeni, then two students from Bar-Ilan University, conducted an archaeological study of the soil that was dumped at the Al Azaria dump. and Nahal Kidron. When they tried to gather conclusions, their work was abruptly stopped by the inspectors of the Israel Antiquities Authority. They did, however, manage to extract a collection of effluent results, which were dated with the help of Dr. Gabriel Barkay and other researchers. The data was brought to the attention of the public at an archaeological conference. The publication provoked outrage that was largely covered by the media.
The debris contained a large amount of dust and sand, which made it very difficult to identify objects during filtering. Dvira and Barkay experimented with water sieving, revealing large amounts of discoveries, including tiny artifacts that are rare in regular excavations. They have developed an innovative and cost-effective technique to optimize wet sieving. This method, which reveals a greater number of discoveries, is currently used in other excavations, including excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Barkay joins Dvira to establish a regulated project for the systematic study of discoveries of evacuated debris from the Temple. Ascend. After several years of struggle, in 2004, the excavation license was granted and the filtering installation began to take shape.
Hidden Treasures
The floor of the Temple Mount produced a variety of hidden treasures: fragments of ancient glbad vessels and shards of pottery, cubes of mosaics, fragments metal, animal bones and stones various artifacts. In total, half a million discoveries, dating from the period of the First Temple, have been discovered to date.
Beside the ordinary discoveries, some 15,000 special objects of all kinds, such as inscriptions pottery, seals, stone tools, more than 6,000 coins, jewelry and pearls, clay figures, arrowheads and other weapons were also discovered
A sieving project of this magnitude requires a large number of hands. It is there that the citizens of Israel and the lovers of Israel around the world have shown their dedication and the challenge. More than 200,000 volunteers joined the filtering and restoration mission, a number unmatched by any archaeological dig or operation in Israel or around the world. Volunteer activities also helped to raise awareness of the importance of preserving and understanding the archaeological treasures of the Temple Mount.
Complete the prophecy described in Psalms 102: 15 " For His servants will want his stones, by his dust will be charmed", the people of Israel joined the project, and many volunteers have their participation as a privilege and even a national duty. Participants from Israel and abroad testified that they had lived an experience of great importance and, over the years, they have become an international tourism business. a great educational value. To this end, special facilities were built in the Emek Tzurim National Park, which allowed large groups to filter activities and to have additional facilities for the benefit of the many visitors to the site.
In Search of a Budget
The Sifting Project is under the scientific auspices of the Institute of Archeology of the University bar-Ilan. The Nature and National Parks Authority has provided the area in which the work is taking place and, until March 2017, the ongoing screening work was funded by the Elad Foundation. About a year and a half ago, this cooperation was interrupted and they are now looking for an alternative site for further debris sieving, of which nearly 30% has not yet been screened.
Archeologically, the very work of sifting, filtering and identifying the results is not enough, and of course it is necessary to understand the results and to conduct research that will present their practical significance. For this purpose, no amount of working hands will help. It is there that experts must step in to apply their knowledge to each piece and each discovery. To badyze and determine the meaning and publish the information in international scientific publications and forums.
To conclude the project and publish their findings, the Israeli Archeology Foundation needs an amount of 9 million NIS over the next five years. This is a relatively negligible sum. Yet, despite this, and despite the Prime Minister's promise, the transfer of funds is currently stuck in a bureaucratic labyrinth of finding appropriate budget items, the approval of legal advisers and officials and personal interests that delay funding .
Seizing the moment
The Zionist movement, with the very act of redemption and return to the Land of Israel, has always been an initiative of the people Jewish himself. First the pioneers who plowed the land, dried the marshes and made the desert bloom. Then came the generation of the state foundation, which fought for its independence and nurtured it. Finally, generations of immigrants arrived, integrating into society with great personal and family struggles, until we became who we are – the Israelis.
But the act of redemption is not over. The Zionist enterprise is changing in nature with the new challenges we face. Now that we have come back and established our sovereignty in our old homeland, we have the duty to clean up the debris and dust accumulated here for 2000 years and to cover the treasures of our history deep in the ground. By exposing them, we will better understand who we were and what we have been waiting for for centuries. Once we have a better understanding of who we are and our heritage, we will know who we are today.
The leaders of the past were able to read the map and act to achieve the national goals. Herzl understood the historic opportunity to ride the wave of national awakening among European nations in the 19th century, and Ben Gurion understood the magnitude of the moment when the creation of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel should be declared.
There is an opportunity to explore the Temple Mount, our most sacred and most important place as a nation. People, for their part, responded to the call again, rose to the challenge and took up the challenge. The time has come for the Israeli government to understand the realities and understand that. Where is the government of Israel and when will it prove that it is worthy of the wonderful public who clearly says what really matters to him?
And until the Israeli government responds to the challenge, those who wish to contribute The project can do so through the website of the Israel Archeology Foundation at http://half-shekel.org
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Daniel Seaman is the editor of the English edition of Mida.org Online magazine
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