ARCHAEOLOGY

Jerusalem artifacts point to first Jewish temple

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Archaeologists have uncovered artifacts under Jerusalem's contested Al-Aqsa mosque compound that may shed light on the first Jewish temple.

Archaeologists have uncovered artifacts under Jerusalem's contested Al-Aqsa mosque compound that may shed light on the first Jewish temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Sunday.

"An apparently sealed archaeological level dating to the first temple period was exposed in the area close to the southeastern corner of the raised platform surrounding the Dome of the Rock," it said in a statement.

The finds include ceramic table ware, animal bones, and pottery shards from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, when Jewish kingdoms reigned over much of the area of modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The finds could "aid scholars in reconstructing the dimensions and boundaries of the Temple Mount during the first temple period", the statement added.

Much remains from the time of the second temple which was razed in AD 70, including the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site, but almost nothing remains from the first temple period, considered the peak of Jewish history.

The area of the excavations, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount and Muslims refer to as the Haram al-Sharif, is the most sacred site of Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.

Because of its religious importance, the site in the Old City of Jerusalem has been a frequent flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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