Footnote 1 – Reimagining Herod’s Royal Portico
Geological research conducted by Aryeh Shimron from the Geological Survey of Israel has concluded that about 20 percent of the fragments show the effects of fire at high temperatures; the conversion of limestone to lime on some surfaces indicates temperatures of at least 800 degrees Celsius. See Orit Peleg-Barkat and Aryeh Shimron, “New Evidence of the Royal Stoa and Roman Flames,” BAR, 36:02.