Salvage archeology at the Temple Mount

Traces of the past are constantly being erased; sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly, through ignorance and indifference, malice and greed. It's enough to make historians and archeologists scream.

Unfortunately, there's so much destruction and so much screaming that policymakers (and the general public) are left without a clear picture of where preservation priorities should lie.

Jerusalem's Temple Mount is one of the most important sites imaginable, subjected to some of the worst devastation. You can read more about it here at Paleojudaica; the following is an excerpt of an excerpt:

"In November 1999, the Islamic authorities carried out a huge excavation of [the part of the Temple Mount known as Solomon's Stable]," Barkay said. "They built a modern entrance to the building instead of the existing entrance, and they dug a huge pit with the help of bulldozers and 300 [dump trucks] that removed the dirt from the earthen fills of this spot". . .

"The earth was saturated with ancient materials, and it was dumped in the Kidron Valley to the east of the Temple Mount". . .

Just two months ago, Barkay put his archaeological know-how into action; he got a license to excavate the dumping grounds in the Kidron Valley. . .

"This effort already yielded some scores of coins," he said. "We have coins from the 12th century, the 19th century, up to the first century B.C. We have some second-century B.C. Antonian coins. We have some Herodian coins."

Among the other things, the team found a Christian charm bearing the image of John the Baptist with an infant Jesus and the Jordan River in the background. They found an alabaster dish from the Persian Period and an ivory comb from the Second Temple period. Though much had already been lost, the substance of what they are finding is encouraging amid the delicate and unfortunate situation.

I'm not happy about the damage done by the military occupation of Babylon, but the attention it has received is wholly disproportionate to what has been happening for far longer in Jerusalem.

Posted by David on February 9, 2005 9:26 AM