The buried truth: Unearthing Jewish history on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Was there really a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount? In the face of total denials that the Jewish people have any connection to Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists have been digging up the truth.

It is widely believed in the Muslim world that there was never a Jewish temple in Jerusalem and, indeed, Palestinian politicians started to make the claim outright some 30 years ago. 

Evidence that not only one but two temples once stood in the plaza area has proved inconvenient to naysayers, and the Temple Mount Sifting Project which has been finding Jewish artifacts from the temple eras has been fraught with controversy.

Archaeologist Tzachi Dvira and his team of soil sifters have been steadily going through tons of earth in search of antiquities from the first and second temple periods. 

“In 1999, renovations began by the Muslim Waqf in a structure located in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, known as "Solomon's Stables." They dug for a day and a half with bulldozers and trucks, removing 9,000 tons of soil,” Dvira explained. “Approximately 400 trucks transported the soil outside the Temple Mount, mainly to the Kidron Valley area. No one stopped them,” he added.

Dvira was horrified. “You're destroying antiquities. There are prison sentences for such offenses,” he exclaimed. He described how he started searching through the dumped soil as a curious archaeology student 20 years ago.

“We approached that dump, and to our surprise, the Antiquities Authority tried to stop us. They raided my vehicle, confiscated everything we had already collected.” he said.

“They claimed it’s a sensitive topic and should only be discussed in closed forums,” he explained. “I argued that this is scientific knowledge – our history, our heritage. It’s not a sensitive topic.”

Over the years, the team found treasures such as floor tiles from the courtyard around the temple, coins bearing the ancient Hebrew inscription, "Holy Jerusalem" on one side and "Half a shekel" on the other from the first year of the Great Revolt against the Romans, and many more items. They have entire warehouses full of historical evidence of Jewish history. 

“We have preserved over half a million findings,” said Dvira. However, due to the incendiary nature of their work, the locations of the warehouses are a closely kept secret, and they have to be careful how they conduct their clandestine operation.

“If we dig there, we'll find remnants of the Temple itself, the foundations of the walls…” Dvira asserted. “Here stood the Temple, and beneath it, according to Jewish sources, the Ark of the Covenant was hidden.” 

When asked if he believed the ark was really there, Dvira replied, “There's a chance. Look, such an important object, during the First Temple period, it simply disappeared.” 

“At first, we were really outsiders – kind of outcasts. Today, the Antiquities Authority supports us,” he said. “At first, we kept a low profile, but people heard about us and offered help, and it became an attraction.”

Today, anyone can go to volunteer with the Temple Mount Sifting Project, and hundreds go as part of their tourist experience in Israel.

“When they touch this and suddenly see – wow, I’m holding shards of vessels priests ate from during the First or Second Temple – people say it changes them,” Dvira said. “We’re touching things that are so ancient and so important to our faith. We thought we would work for a few months with a small group of archaeology volunteers, and it ended up lasting 20 years.”

“I think we still don’t understand, even spiritually and historically, we don’t truly grasp the meaning of this place."