Relics in Rubble: The Temple Mount Sifting Project

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The first part of this article is by Zachi Dvira; the remainder is by Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira.¹

The Temple Mount is surely one of the holiest sites in the world. Here King Solomon erected the Home of God—which stood until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. Here stood the Second Temple until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. For Christians, the Temple Mount is the focal area in Jerusalem of the deeds of Jesus. For Muslims, it is the site of the prophet Muhammad’s ascension to heaven and their third holiest site.

In the late 1990s, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel under the auspices of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf (the religious trust that manages the Islamic edifices on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem) decided to convert a large underground structure known as Solomon’s Stables (so named by the Crusaders) into a huge new mosque.

The Waqf brought heavy machinery to bulldoze a massive area in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount for a stairway down to the new underground Al-Marwani Mosque. Working day and night for three days, without any archaeological supervision and in violation of the Antiquities Law of the State of Israel, they created space for a stairway 045 046 down to the mosque. The project was allowed to proceed for political reasons. In a later phase, the ground level in the southeastern area of the Temple Mount, north of the new pit, was lowered by about 1.5 feet to enable paving large parts of the area.

About 400 truckloads of archaeologically rich soil were removed—approximately 9,000 tons of soil—and unceremoniously dumped, mostly in the nearby Kidron Valley.

At that time, I was a student at Bar-Ilan University, and one of my professors was veteran archaeologist Gabriel Barkay. Together with my friend and fellow student, Aran Yardeni, we gathered a group of volunteers to undertake a little archaeological survey of the Kidron Valley dump, to examine its archaeological value and perhaps even retrieve some finds. Our arrival at the site quickly triggered a visit from inspectors from the anti-theft unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who, in turn, summoned the police. They demanded that we hand over the artifacts we had collected and leave the site immediately. We managed to leave with a few artifacts later examined by Barkay.

We were invited to give a lecture about the finds at an archaeological conference at Bar-Ilan University. The talk raised a storm, and the IAA was widely criticized for allowing this archaeological atrocity to 047 occur. In contrast, the IAA accused me of antiquities theft and several days later, on January 17, 2000, raided my home and detained me for investigation at a police station. Eventually, the state pressed charges, accusing me of antiquities theft. The judge at the trial realized immediately that the charges were political and dismissed the case, asking the prosecution to retract the charges.

The truth is that the IAA was bound by the attorney general, who at the time prohibited the enforcement of the Antiquities Law on the Temple Mount. Because of its political sensitivity, the prime minister of Israel personally deals with such issues, and the measure of law enforcement always depends on the ideology and politics of the prime minister.

In 2001, we decided to create a systematic project to sift the soil from the dump in the Kidron Valley. It took us four years to raise the funds and overcome the bureaucratic obstacles before we could obtain an excavation permit.

In 2004, we began transferring precious dirt to camps we set up at Tzurim Valley National Park, overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. Here we began to sift, and over the years we continued to move dirt from the Temple Mount debris dump in the Kidron Valley to the sifting site (a total of 322 truckloads, to date).

After all our efforts, the results were disappointing. In the first two weeks, we tried sifting samples from various parts of the debris, but we found only small pieces of pottery. Although potsherds are an important source of archaeological data, we had expected a larger variety of categories of finds.

In considering why the finds were so limited, we recalled a short survey we had done in 1999. At that time, we were able to see pottery (and other finds) only after rain poured down on the dump in the area.

The soil from the Temple Mount contains large amounts of ash and dust that cover and coat both the natural stones and the archaeological finds, making it very difficult to differentiate between them. We tried using water in the sifting process, and the results were very successful. At the beginning, it was necessary to use large amounts of water over a lengthy period of time in order to dissolve the clumps of mud adhering to the finds, but later we found that if we first dry-sifted the soil and then 048 soaked the material in buckets of water, the dust and soil were very efficiently and rapidly removed, using only a small amount of water.

From the very beginning of our wet-sifting efforts, we recorded a variety of objects: jewelry, artifacts of warfare, bone tools, coins and architectural fragments. The first coin recovered in the sifting work was very exciting due to its symbolic nature. It was minted during the First Jewish Revolt against Rome that preceded the destruction of the Second Temple.² The coin bore the phrase “For the Freedom of Zion” (Nwyx trj). The name “Zion” was the name of the Temple Mount in ancient times.

Gradually, we refined the wet-sifting technique. We also constructed a large greenhouse with dozens of sifting stands with hoses. The material is first dry-sifted into buckets. Then the debris is brought into the greenhouse, soaked in water and wet-sifted by volunteers using spray taps. The volunteers scrutinize the washed material and collect the artifacts, which are then sorted into six main categories: pottery, glass, bones, stone tesserae (mosaic cubes), metal and special stones. Every sifting screen is checked by a staff member before the leftovers are discarded.

In a short time, the wet-sifting technique was adopted by others at excavations in Jerusalem and elsewhere around the country. Some prefer to hire our sifting services and deliver soil from their digs to our sifting facility. Since the wet-sifting method was introduced by our project, the number of seals and seal impressions found in Jerusalem has increased dramatically.

From the outset, it was evident that retrieving valuable information from such a vast amount of soil would require a large number of volunteers, and indeed many groups have offered their help. In fact, most of the volunteers see it as a duty and privilege to participate in this rescue effort. The project has proven to be meaningful for people from all over the world and has become a global educational undertaking that has drawn thousands of volunteers, including Israeli residents, tourists and student groups.

We are also encouraging the public and the archaeological community worldwide to be involved in researching some of the unidentified finds via an online research forum. BAR readers are invited to visit this website and share their thoughts 049 at www.echad.info/uifinds.

Our work is sometimes denigrated because, unlike an archaeological excavation, we cannot identify the exact origin and context of the finds. This is true, and our analysis would be even more valuable if we had this information. But, unfortunately, we do not. We choose to take advantage of the information we can extract, rather than to ignore it.

More than 1,260 archaeological excavations have been conducted in Jerusalem in the past 150 years.^a Jerusalem is probably the most excavated city of its size in the world. But no single systematic excavation has ever been conducted on the Temple Mount, the holiest and most important archaeological site in the country. Our recoveries represent the first-ever archaeological data originating from within the soil of the Temple Mount.

Moreover, a comparative methodology to ours is widely used in professional archaeological surveys: In this technique, artifacts are collected only from the surface without excavating. The finds are studied and considered a reliable sampling of what would be found by excavating.

As we have shown, when studied thoroughly, artifacts found in soil from the Temple Mount can dramatically enhance our understanding of this never-before-excavated site.

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We have retrieved hundreds of thousands of artifacts and identified, sorted, dated, cataloged and documented them for publication in a comprehensive archaeological report. The most common are pottery fragments, pieces of glass vessels, coins, metal objects, bones, worked stones and mosaic tesserae. Occasionally, we recover inscribed pottery sherds, seals or seal impressions (bullae), fragments of stone vessels, jewelry and beads, fragments of terracotta figurines, arrowheads and other weaponry, weights, clothing accessories, gaming pieces and dice, furniture decorations, ornaments, flooring tiles, roof tiles and fragments of architectural members, such as glazed wall tiles, capitals of columns, architraves and frescoes.

Most of the finds date from the First Temple period onward, that is, the 10th century B.C.E. until the present. The finds that predate the First Temple period are scarce, mostly pottery sherds from the Middle Bronze Age II (1950–1550 B.C.E.), the Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 B.C.E.) and Iron Age I (1150–1000 B.C.E.). They include flint implements, Egyptian scarabs and pendants and even a fragment of what might be a finger from an Egyptian statue.

While the finds from earlier than 1000 B.C.E. are scarce, an occasional find from that time can have unusual importance. One such find made the international press. A 12-year-old girl discovered an Egyptian amulet bearing the name of Pharaoh Thutmose III, who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1425 B.C.E.^b

About 15 percent of the diagnostic pottery pieces can be dated to the First Temple period (the 10th century B.C.E. to the Babylonian destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C.E.). Some of these finds are datable to the 10th–9th centuries B.C.E., the time of kings David and Solomon and their followers. In addition to pottery, the finds include two rare bronze arrowheads and seals. The earlier arrowhead, dating to the 10th century B.C.E., may be evidence for the site’s occupation in the First Temple period, contrary to the contention of some scholars who claim that Solomon did not build the Temple 051 and that the Temple Mount was annexed to the city centuries later. Another intriguing find is a bronze Babylonian arrowhead from the time of the Babylonian destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E. Of the three (unfortunately uninscribed) Iron Age seals that were found, one is of special interest. Parallel seals with similar stylistic designs have been found at other sites in Israel from the 11th–9th centuries B.C.E.—the time of the Jebusites, from whom David conquered Jerusalem—as well as the construction of the Temple by his son, King Solomon. These finds enable us to attribute one of our First Temple period seals to the same early period (11th–9th centuries B.C.E.).

This seal is conical in shape and made of brown limestone. Two animals, one above the other, are carved on its circular base. Perhaps these represent a predator and its prey. The seal is perforated, thus enabling it to be hung on a string.³ The early date of this seal makes it special.

We have found 30 Iron Age bullae and fragments of bullae so far, but the impressions are clearly preserved on only five of them. Among them was a bulla from a type used as a token with a cone-shaped back—and some fingerprint marks.⁴ These fingerprints somehow give us a special connection to the person who pressed his finger into the clay to create a token nearly 2,800 years ago.

One special bulla dated to the seventh century B.C.E. bears the Hebrew inscription “…[belonging to] (…) lyahu (son of) Immer.” Immer is the name of a well-known priestly family from the end of the First Temple period (c. seventh–sixth centuries B.C.E.) and the Post-Exilic period (1 Chronicles 24:14). Pashhur son of Immer is also mentioned as the “chief officer in the house of God” (Jeremiah 20:1).

The impression on the back of this bulla indicates that it was attached to a coarse fabric parcel or a sack. Presumably, it sealed precious goods kept in the Temple treasury that the priests managed. This seal impression from the Temple Mount directly attests to the administrative activity that occurred during its last days in the First Temple.

At first, we were surprised to find more than 140 fragments of terracotta figurines, mostly quadrupeds, but also Judahite pillar female figurines dating to the First Temple period.^c Such figurines are common in all Iron Age excavations in Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah. They are usually found fragmented, suggesting that they were deliberately broken in antiquity as part of a ritual act.

Several scholars have tied this phenomenon to the iconoclastic reforms of King Josiah at the end of the 052 seventh century B.C.E., which included the smashing of idols and dumping them in the Kidron Valley (2 King 23:4–13; 2 Chronicles 34:3–8).⁵ Many similar figurine fragments have been found in dirt we sifted from a refuse pit dating to the Iron Age on the eastern slope of the Temple Mount (on the western bank of the Kidron Valley), which may lend further support to the contention that these figurines were indeed destroyed in a religious or cultic reform.⁶ Others posit that the figurines were actually broken as the final stage of their ritual role,⁷ while others have argued that there is no evidence for intentional breakage or face mutilation.⁸ Moreover, the figurines cannot be correlated with any particular reforms, as almost all have been found in refuse contexts.

That the First Temple period finds include seals, bullae and weights is hardly surprising. In addition to the Temple, the Temple Mount included other governmental buildings and royal palaces. A great deal of administrative activity occurred here.

The fact that almost all of the weights, sling stones and all of the figurines were broken may indicate these finds come from a refuse dump. Additionally, the First Temple period finds did not include precious artifacts, such as imported pottery and metal objects. We speculate that these discarded artifacts originated on the Temple Mount and were later dumped on its eastern slopes. Then, during the Second Temple period, these slopes were the source for the earth imported for filling and extending the Temple precincts.⁹

Further evidence for such a refuse context was revealed in August 2007 during another Waqf dig for an electrical wire trench under the supervision of IAA staff. They found a small cluster of potsherds and animal bones from the end of the First Temple period, also suggesting a refuse context.

Turning to the Second Temple period (538 B.C.E.–70 C.E.), the finds from the Sifting Project come from all phases of the Second Temple’s history—from the Persian period until the Roman period. The soil contains large amounts of ash, and many of the finds have signs of burning, probably from the vast conflagration that ended the First Jewish Revolt against Rome. Many burnt bones of sheep, goat and cattle were found that may have been the remains 053 of sacrifices offered on the Temple’s altar.

Another intriguing category of finds consists of stone fragments that must have originated from elaborate buildings. We can identify architraves, bases, capitals and column drums. Some of these may even have originated from the Temple structure itself.

From the Hellenistic period, we have recovered a limestone column capital of the Doric order. The capital was fully preserved, and we assume that it stood upon a column more than 13 feet high, based on its diameter.

A seal impression on a jar handle was found that includes a design of a five-pointed star in which, between its horns, are the ancient Hebrew letters “YRŠLM”—Jerusalem. More than a hundred seal impressions of this type are known, dating to the second century B.C.E., the days of the Hasmonean dynasty.

To date, the Sifting Project has recovered more than 6,000 coins, ranging from the first Judaic coins minted during the Persian period (tiny silver Yehud coins dating from the fourth century B.C.E.) to others minted in modern times. These coins attest to the rich past of the Temple Mount. Many of the coins from the late Second Temple period seem to be burnt, probably as a result of the fire that led to the destruction of the Temple.

A particularly exciting find is a rare silver coin minted during the first year of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome (66/67 C.E.). The coin features a branch with three pomegranates and an inscription in ancient Hebrew script reading “holy Jerusalem” (hudq mluwry). The reverse side of the coin features an omer (ancient half-cup measuring unit) inscribed “half shekel” (lquh yxj). These half-shekel coins were used to pay the Temple tax during the Great Revolt, replacing the Tyrian shekel used previously. It appears that these half-shekel coins were minted by the Temple authorities on the Temple Mount itself. This half-shekel tax for the sanctuary, mentioned in the Book of Exodus (30:13–15), required every male to pay half a shekel to the Tabernacle once a year. Our half-shekel coin is well preserved but bears scars of the conflagration that destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E.

A significant discovery from the time of the Herodian expansion of the Temple Mount are hundreds of opus sectile stone tiles.^d Opus sectile (Latin: “cut 054 work”) is a technique of paving floors in lavish geometric patterns using meticulously cut and polished polychrome tiles. Many of the tiles have been dated to the Late Second Temple period based on parallels found in Herodian palaces. Their dimensions are based on fractions of the Roman foot (c. 11.65 in). Flavius Josephus, writing about the open courts surrounding the Temple, says, “Those entire courts that were exposed to the sky were laid with stones of all sorts.”¹⁰ This description is now better understood thanks to these finds, and we are currently working on a reconstruction of the floor patterns.

Other finds reflect life on the Temple Mount in later periods. Relative to the other periods, not many artifacts from the Late Roman period were found in the sifting, although some interesting objects were revealed: many items made of bone and bone workshop’s waste, gem stones with designs, gaming pieces, fragments of clay figurines and several roof tile fragments with impressions of the Tenth Roman Legion (which destroyed the Temple and was stationed in Jerusalem after the destruction).

From the Byzantine period (Early Christian period: 324–638 C.E.), we have recovered large amounts of pottery and many coins, as well as architectural fragments. In addition, from this period are several cruciform pendants, clay oil lamps emblazoned with crosses and bronze weights.

Finds from the Byzantine period include about half a million mosaic tesserae, thousands of roof tile fragments, pieces of Corinthian capitals and chancel screens from church structures and floor tiles. The plethora of Byzantine-period artifacts stands in contrast to the commonly held view that in the Byzantine era the Temple Mount was desolate or, according to some sources, a garbage dump.¹¹

Solomon’s Stables, where the new mosque is located, got its name in the Crusader period (1099–1187 C.E.) when the Knights Templar used the area as stables. They had their headquarters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which they named “Solomon’s Temple.” We have found many items associated with Knights Templar 055 activity. Among them are hundreds of armor scales, horseshoe nails and a large collection of medieval arrowheads. In addition, we have recovered more than a hundred silver Crusader coins—the biggest and most varied collection of coins from this period found in Jerusalem. Many of these finds probably originate from the earth cleared directly from the interior of Solomon’s Stables at the start of the work there in 1996.

Twelve inscribed Turkish Ottoman-period (1517–1917) bronze seals and signet rings have also been discovered, mostly dated to the 19th and early 20th centuries. One unique example bears the name ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Tamimi, who served as deputy to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and qadi (judge) of Nablus, Gaza and Ramla at periods before his death in 1725 C.E.¹² The current director of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, Sheikh Mohammed Azzam al-Khatib al-Tamimi, is from the same Tamimi family.

We have found evidence from later periods of Western Christian pilgrims and visitors along with military insignia and buttons from World War I and a large variety of artifacts dating until the present day.

To date, about 70 percent of the debris has been sifted. More than half a million artifacts have been saved and stored. From the beginning, the work has been done by volunteers, and close to 200,000 of them have participated in the sifting.

Participants in the Sifting Project come from all facets of society, including children (must be at least 3 ft tall to reach the screens), elderly people and people with disabilities, even blindness.

Jerusalem’s Temple Mount is one of the world’s holiest sites; archaeological excavations are prohibited here. But, in November 1999, the Islamic trust that controls the Islamic structures on the site bulldozed a massive area in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount and dumped the excavated debris into the Kidron Valley. Two archaeologists are running a pioneering project to wet-sift this debris to search for Temple Mount artifacts that have been concealed for centuries.