(Ha'aretz) Nir Hasson and Ruth Schuster - Sections of floor tiling from the Second Temple courtyard have been restored by archaeologists, using fragments found in debris removed from the Temple Mount by the Palestinians. The marble shards were found during laborious filtering of debris removed from the site in 1999 by the Islamic Waqf (religious trust). Some 600 colored floor tile pieces were found, of which about 100 have been dated with near-certainty to the Second Temple period. The restored tiles will be shown publicly for the first time on Thursday at the City of David archaeological site in Jerusalem. Dr. Gabriel Barkay said, "this represents the first time that we can see with our own eyes the splendor of the flooring that decorated the Second Temple and its annexes 2,000 years ago."
2016-09-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive