Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Well, not the Mount itself, but the rubble that's left from it and dumped into a valley...Israeli Archaeologists are looking for volunteers to sift what the Waqf has left from what they've dug out of the strata of the Temple Mount, what they haven't defaced and destroyed...
Since construction of an underground mosque on the Temple Mount began in 1999, hundreds of tons of dirt and debris have been dumped in the Kidron valley. Since November 2004, veteran archaeologist Gabriel Barkay and his student Zachi Zweig have been sifting through this debris for whatever archaeological evidence is to be had. Excavating on the Temple Mount is forbidden, so this is as close as archaeologist can come to learning the archaeological history of the site. So far Barkay and Zweig have found hundreds of ancient coins, jewelry, tesserae, arrowheads and a 2-foot long marble column, fragmented architectural remnants from Second Temple Period monumental structures, first temple period seals, fragments of figurines, weights and thousands of other finds.
Temple Mount Sifting Project
The project is looking for volunteers to come and help them sort through the thousands of years hidden in the dirt. They ask that individuals devote at least three days, and groups at least one day, to help them out. So if you're visiting Jerusalem this summer, stop by an offer a hand to this important project...
Sad.
I think this is heartbreaking. Centuries of history have just been thrown in the dump.
Yet we Jews are accused of trying to destroy al Aqsa.
I'm starting to get mad.
I wish I could go help.
Now I think I'm going to go cry.
Findign the Temple,
Eve if you cannot help with the sifting dig -you can send a donation, even a small one. Remember, the Beit HaMigdash was built and maintained with small donations form each Jew.
Checks should be made payable to:
“Friends of Ir Davidâ€
Mailing Address:
"Friends of Ir Davidâ€
1300 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA
Tax ID Number: 11-346-6176
Tax exempt status: 501 (c) (3)
Electronic Bank Transfer:
Bank: Chase Manhattan-1501 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY
Account name: “Friends of Ir Davidâ€
Account Number: 845500431365
Routing number: 021000021
Donations in Israel made be made to:
Ir David Foundation, in the name of:
“El-Ad El Ir Davidâ€
P. O. B. 18045
Jerusalem 91180, Israel
Amuta number: 58-010-866-0
Tel.: 972 2 671 3434
Fax: 972 2 671 2929
Email: Foundation@cityofdavid.org.il
Doron Spielman
Ir David Foundation
(972) 2-671-3434 Phone
www.cityofdavid.org.il
Hmmmm, I wonder what Nadia Abu El-Haj* would make of this. Maybe she should be invited along. :-)
*author of Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society.
I love that book! Especially the part where she writes the the Hebrew kingdoms are a "pure political fabrication" and, meanwhile, archaeologists all over Judea and Samaria are digging up entire Hebrew cities built form stone - some fabrication.
Maybe they could give her tenure in the Department of Lying and Propaganda.
tomorrow afternoon in Israel, Friday 4-20-07, I'm going to post on my blog photos of the architecture, mosaics, marble carving, and Hebrew and Hebrew-Aramaic inscriptions unearthed at Susiya, south of Hebron.