Prof. Gabriel Barkai Explains the Temple Mount Sifting Project

We began our day by getting our hands dirty at the Temple Mount Sifting Project with the Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkai, professor emeritus at Bar Ilan University. Professor Barkai explained some of the history of the Temple Mount area as well as the history and goals of the project. In 1999, the Islamic Waqf, which administers the site of the Temple Mount, or Haram esh-Sharif, undertook an excavation project in order to build an emergency exit for a new mosque on the site. Unfortunately, rather than conducting an archaeological survey, the Waqf bulldozed the area, disturbing thousands of years of artifacts. The excavated material, which amounted to 400 trucks full of dirt, was dumped in the Kidron Valley. In 2004, after years of bureaucratic negotiation, Professor Barkai was given permission to sift through this material. More than 10 years later, he is still working on it, and relies on volunteers to help him.

Our group sifted through many buckets of mud and rocks looking for pottery sherds, mosaic tiles, glass, bone, and metal. We had a number of interesting finds: a First Temple period jug-handle fragment, a piece of a Byzantine brick with the remnant of a seal impression, and a Roman nail.

Inside the Church of the Nativity

After our archaeological experience we drove to Bethlehem to meet Dr. Mitri Raheb, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church. Dr. Raheb spoke to us and a church group from Sweden about the situation of Palestinian Christians in the occupied territories, a perspective we had not yet heard. After a delicious lunch at the church we visited the famed Church of the Nativity, the place where Jesus is said to have been born.

On Top of the Herodion

Unfortunately we were pressed for time, so we only spent a little time in the Church and then drove on to the Herodion. The Herodion is an artificial hill between Bethlehem and Jerusalem on which King Herod built a palace and fortress in the first century BCE. The Herodion, which looks like a volcano from afar, was later used by the Jewish rebels during their revolt against Rome. It afforded us a splendid view from Bethlehem down to the Dead Sea.

Tonight students are enjoying a well-deserved free night. It is the Jewish holiday of Purim today, so Israelis will be roaming the streets in costumes,