"The most important place is the least excavated place," said Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay in a lecture on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount last night at Edgewood College, sponsored by the Madison Biblical Archaeology Society. The Temple Mount is the holiest location of Judaism since it was the location of first temple built by King Solomon and the second temple built by King Herod. It’s also the third holiest spot of Islam, the location of four mosques, and is known to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary.
For those reasons there’s never been an archaeological excavation on the Temple Mount. But archaeologists are learning a great deal of information from the tons of dirt that were hauled out of the Temple Mount area in 1999 as part of a controversial construction project. That dirt is now being re-excavated by volunteers under Barkay’s supervision.
Barkay called the construction project and and the dirt removal without archaeological supervision "the greatest archaeological crime in the history of Israel." Muslim authorities who oversee the Temple Mount area created an unauthorized entrance to an underground area known as Solomon’s Stables, as part of its conversion into what’s now called the al Marwani Mosque. "More than 400 truckloads of soil saturated with valuable archaeological material was removed," he said.
Some of the material was dumped along with refuse at a nearby landfill. The rest of it was dumped into the Kidron Valley near the Temple Mount. When a student brought Barkay pottery sherds from all areas of Israel’s history, culled from the dirt piles, he decided to apply for a license to excavate the dirt. Because of its political ramifications the application was denied at first. But eventually it was approved and Barkay’s army of volunteers began the sifting in November of 2004.
Barkay says an average of 100 volunteers participate each day. They have ranged in age from seven to 91. "All one needs is good will and a pair of good eyes," he said.
Among the most interesting items recovered so far, 1500 coins ranging from a Persian coin of the 5th century BC to a gold coin from 1858. There are also thousands of pieces of jewelry, as well as stone age flint weapons and tools, plus Babylonian and Roman arrow heads.
After presenting dozens of photos of recovered items, Barkay ended with two of extreme interest. One was an Egyptian scarab from the 14th century BC inscribed with the name of Pharaoh Amenophis III. The other was a seal impression from the seventh century containing the name of Ga’alyahu son of Immer. This was no doubt the brother of Pashhur the son of Immer who is named in the 20th chapter of the book of Jeremiah as the chief officer of the temple, who ordered the prophet Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks for a night.
Eventually all of this material will form a graph of the occupation of the Temple Mount, Barkay said. And although it won’t reveal as much as would an actual archaeological excavation of the Temple Mount, it is giving scholars a new understanding of the occupation of the Temple Mount over the 4,000+ year history of Jerusalem.
Gabriel Barkay will be interviewed on THE BOOK & THE SPADE radio program next week.