Fact or Fiction: Antiquities Authority Warns of 'Unprecedented Archaeological Crime"

From the Jerusalem Post comes a report in which the head of Israel's Antiquities Authority proclaims the recent excavations conducted at the Temple Mount under the auspices of Islamic Wakf officials "unprecedented archaeological crime."  We quote excerpts from the article:

"On the grounds of a Jerusalem national park with a view of the Temple Mount, a small group of Israeli archaeologists and volunteers sifting through piles of rubble discarded by Islamic Wakf officials from the Temple Mount into a city garbage dump have recently uncovered a series of history-rich artifacts dating back to the First and Second Temple periods.

"The five-month old privately-funded project underway at the site, which is being directed by Bar Ilan University archeology professor Dr. Gabriel Barkay, is being called virtually unprecedented since archaeological excavation has never been permitted on the Temple Mount itself."

"Six years ago, following the Islamic Wakf's unilateral construction of a mosque at an underground area of the Temple Mount known as Solomon's Stables, Wakf officials discarded more than 10,000 tons of rubble with history-rich artifacts, at a municipal garbage dump in the Kidron Valley and other locations outside the Old City."

Frankly, judging from the photos in the Jerusalem Post of some of the relatively minor artifacts found in the dump heap, this hardly seems to compare to the "archaeological crime," of say, the Taliban destruction of the destroyed two large statues of the Buddha outside of the city of Bamiyan in 2001. But judge for yourself.....full story click here.

Comments

[ipad case]

I am apreciating it very much.I have never read such a lovely article and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading.

[Michelle]

Thanks for these constant real-time rerpots on the Temple Mount happenings. It's good to know someone is keeping a careful watch on not only the ancient history of Har Habayit but history as its happening.I really don't know what better place to keep aprised of both the ancient and modern history of the Temple than your blog! Thank you!