In April 2005, a small team of Israeli archaeologists and volunteers discovered a series of relics dating
back to the periods of the First
and Second Temples in Jerusalem.
The most startling aspect of this rare archaeological
find was that it did not occur on the Temple Mount,
but in piles of rubble at a garbage dump in the Kidron
Valley thrown out by Islamic Waqf authorities. Under the direction of Bar
Ilan University professor Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the
team's discoveries are touted as the first of its kind
because excavation has never been possible on the Temple
Mount site.
The disrespect of the Temple Mount
structure itself, as well as the removal of ancient
Jewish artifacts, is hardly a new trend. In 1996, Islamic
clerics converted two underground buildings from the
Second Temple period into mosques, although they had
never been mosques in the past. In 1999, the Waqf opened
another exit to the mosque, at the expense of thousands
of tons of artifact-rich dirt that was carried away
by large trucks and dumped into the Kidron Valley. The
Waqf authorities claim that the Temple Mount was an
ancient mosque dating from the time of Adam and Eve, and
reject any and all claims by Jews that the site is the
place of both ancient Jewish temples.
This area of the Temple Mount, known
as Solomon's
Stables, has been under constant reconstruction
supervised by Islamic religious authorities in an effort
to erase any Jewish archaeological claims to the site.
The former head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority
called the removal and dumping of these artifacts "an
unprecedented archaeological crime." The Bar Ilan
archaeologists transfered nearly 70 truckloads of rubble
from the garbage dump to the Emek Zurim National Park,
and with a full view of the Temple Mount, conducted
the first excavations of its kind by sifting through
individual heaps of dirt.
The archaeologists discovered some
very compelling relics from the rubble, including some
pottery dating back to the Bronze Age and First Temple
periods. Over 100 ancient coins were also recovered,
including some from the Hasmonean dynasty. One coin from the period of the First
Revolt against the Romans reads "For the Freedom
of Zion," and was coined before the destruction
of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Other finds include a
Hasmonean lamp (ca. 165 BCE-70 CE), arrowheads, an ivory
comb, and figurines.
Sources: Mark Ami El, "The Destruction
of the Temple Mount Antiquities," JCPA,
(August 1, 2002); Etgar Lefkovits, "Temple
Mount relics saved from garbage," The
Jerusalem Post, (April 15, 2005).