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Temple Mount Relics Saved from Garbage
(Jerusalem Post) Etgar Lefkovits - A small group of Israeli archaeologists and volunteers sifting through piles of rubble discarded by Islamic Wakf officials from the Temple Mount into a Jerusalem garbage dump have recently uncovered a series of history-rich artifacts dating back to the First and Second Temple periods. The privately-funded project is directed by Bar-Ilan University archeology professor Dr. Gabriel Barkay. In November, 68 truckloads of rubble saturated with archaeological finds were transferred from the garbage dump to the Emek Zurim National Park, on the western slopes of Mount Scopus. Over the last five months, researchers have uncovered a large amount of pottery dating from the Bronze Ages through modern times, a one meter tall segment of a marble pillar's shaft, and over 100 ancient coins, among them several from the Hasmonean dynasty. One coin was from the period of the First Revolt against the Romans that preceded the destruction of the Second Temple, and bore the phrase "For the Freedom of Zion."