Every bucket of earth we sift contains ancient artifacts representing the Temple Mount’s rich and diverse 3,000 year history. The most common finds are pottery fragments, glass vessel pieces, metal objects, animal bones, worked stones and mosaic tesserae.

In addition to these general categories, there are many fascinating finds, such as fragments of stone vessels, jewelry, beads, terracotta figurines, arrowheads and other weaponry, weights, clothing accessories, gaming pieces and dice, bone and shell inlays, furniture decorations, ornaments, bone and ivory objects, and fragments of inscriptions on stone and pottery.

We have also recovered elaborate architectural remains, including fragments of columns and their capitals, fragments of mosaic floors, Opus Sectile floor tiles, frescoes (colored wall plaster pieces) and glazed wall tiles.

To date, the Temple Mount Sifting Project (TMSP) has uncovered more than 7,000 coins, ranging from tiny silver coins from the 4th century BCE to coins minted in modern times. Among them are very rare and exciting coins such as the silver half-shekel discussed in greater detail below.

Although the earth excavated from the Temple Mount was moved from one place to another several times, it was not completely mixed. Consequently, many of the finds remain in context-associated clusters. This will allow us to learn more about the context of the finds through the appropriate application of quantitative analysis.

Once the sorting and analysis process is completed, the data will help provide fresh insights into the archaeology and history of the Temple Mount.

From the First Temple period (1000 to 586 BCE, from King David to the destruction of the First Temple) we have recovered an abundance of pottery fragments originating from bowls, pots, jars, and jugs, as well as chalices, stands, rattles and other unique objects.

Some of the finds date to the 10th-9th centuries BCE, the time of King Solomon, builder of the First Temple, and his successors. These finds are rare in Jerusalem, and they have brought forth critical evidence in the heated debate about the size of Jerusalem in this period. Some scholars doubt that the Temple Mount was annexed to Jerusalem during the 10th century BCE. They suggest that Jerusalem was not a capital city but rather a small village. Our finds contradict this minimalist assertion and confirm the Biblical account regarding Jerusalem during this period.

The TMSP has found a large number of terracotta figurine fragments. Most are zoomorphic quadruped legs (probably horses) and sections of torsos. Others are fragments of pillared female figurines. Scholars have widely debated the figurines’ symbolism and function. Some see them as means to evoke a goddess during prayers for fertility, while others have associated them with healing and protection. All of them have been found fragmented, and they appear to have been intentionally broken in antiquity. Some scholars have associated this phenomenon with the reforms of King Josiah at the end of the 7th century BCE, which included the smashing of idols (2 Kings 23: 4-13; 2 Chron. 34: 3-5).

The sifting also yielded a group of stone weights of the shekel series. No coinage system existed at this time, and thus trade was done using these weights for weighing precious metals. Some of the weights found are less than a shekel unit and represent weight units of gera (20 or 24 gera to a shekel).

Other finds from this period include weaponry items such as sling stones and arrowheads. Among them are several arrowheads commonly found in Judah which date to the mid-late First Temple period. One very rare bronze arrowhead is dated to the 10th century BCE, the time of King Solomon. Arrowheads from this period are rarely found. This one, the first of its type found in Jerusalem, may attest to the existence of an armed force on the Temple Mount. Another distinctive arrowhead found by the project was a bronze Irano-Schythic triple-bladed type used by the Babylonian army that conquered Judah and destroyed the First Temple.

Inscribed artifacts include dozens of ostraca (inscribed pottery) fragments and 25 clay seal impressions (bullae). One seal impression bears the Hebrew names ליהו… and אִמֶר, meaning “(Belonging to) […]lyahu (son of) Immer.” Immer was the name of a priestly family mentioned in the books of Jeremiah and Chronicles.

This seal impression is the first ancient Hebrew inscription ever found from the Temple Mount, and is the first piece of evidence attesting to priests’ administrative functions in the First Temple. Other finds include a rare cone-shaped seal from the time of King Solomon depicting two animals, a black stone seal depicting a gazelle, and a seal made of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious gemstone.

During the Second Temple period (515 BCE to 70 CE) the Temple and its esplanade underwent several construction projects, primarily during the reign of King Herod and his descendants. The finds from this period include numerous pottery shards, especially from cooking pots, and many burnt livestock bones. These finds may be linked to the massive pilgrimages to the Temple described in written sources. The sifting also yielded fragments of architectural members that may be the remains of magnificent porticoes that encircled the Temple Mount, or perhaps even remains of the Temple itself!

A very illuminating find is our collection of more than one thousand fragments of floor tiles in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.

These are identified as floor tiles used in a paving technique known in the Roman world as opus sectile, in which the tiles were assembled in various ways to form rich geometric patterns. The writings of Flavius Josephus testify that this technique was used for ornamentation of the open courts that surrounded the Temple:

Those entire courts that were exposed to the sky were laid with stones of all sorts (War. 5 5:2)

Josephus’ description is completely consistent with our finds and allows us to suggest a comprehensive reconstruction of the patterns of the Temple Mount floors.

We also recovered Roman period arrowheads that may originate from the Roman siege before the destruction of the Temple. The sifted earth contains large amounts of ash from repeated conflagrations. This, too, may attest to the Roman destruction of the Temple.

The finds from the Late Roman period (70 to 324 CE) reflect the pagan nature of the site under Roman control. These finds include coins, pottery, gaming pieces, and evidence for a bone tools workshop at the site.

The TMSP has uncovered rich archaeological remains from the Byzantine period (324 to 638 CE). These include mosaic tesserae, roof tiles, fragments of Corinthian pillar capitals, church chancel screens and numerous coins. The pottery includes many oil lamps, some bearing misspelled Greek inscriptions, and others emblazoned with a cross or stylized cruciform lamp handles. An important group of crucifixes and cross-shaped pendants of various styles and materials were also found. On some of these crosses the image of Jesus appears in relief or incised.

The abundance of finds from this period challenges the standard assumption that the Temple Mount was deserted and devoid of structures during this period.

A very large percentage of the finds come from the Early Islamic period (638 to 1099 CE). In this period the name of the site was changed to Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). The Dome of the Rock was built by the Umayyad Khalif Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 691 CE as a shrine to commemorate the spot where Solomon’s Temple once stood. Later on, in 705-714 CE, his son al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik built the Al-Aqsa mosque at the southern edge of the Haram al-Sharif above the ruins of a Byzantine structure.

These edifices were renovated in later periods. During the 16th century CE, the magnificent exterior gilded mosaics of the Dome of the Rock were replaced with decorated glazed wall tiles. The floor tiles of the Dome of the Rock and the Dome of the Chain were replaced in modern times. These renovations included the removal of earlier architectural elements and the construction debris was dumped on the eastern side of the Temple Mount. Accordingly, the TMSP has recovered tens of thousands of gilded glass tesserae cubes originating from the mosaics on the exterior walls of the Dome of the Rock, as well as many engraved marble architectural elements from other structures. Though they originated from the Byzantine or even Second Temple periods, many of these architectural fragments were used within Umayyad structures.

In addition, we recovered inscribed pottery, mother-of-pearl inlays, jewelry, gaming pieces, glass and metal weights with inscriptions, and many coins (including gold ones) and inscribed stones from this period.

The finds from the TMSP greatly contribute to the archaeological and historical research of the Temple Mount during the Crusader period (1099 to 1187 CE). We discovered the biggest and most varied collection of silver coins ever found in Jerusalem from this period; among them are extremely rare coins and a one-of-a-kind Knights Templar medallion. The Crusader finds include multitude cruciform pendants, pottery and architectural remains. Many opus sectile floor tiles -that were installed in the Dome of the Rock and dismantled in later periods – were recovered in the sifting, enabling us to replicate the elaborate floor of the Dome of the Rock during the Crusaders’ times.

In scholarly texts, the Temple Mount has been commonly associated with the Knights Templar in this period. The Knights Templar used the Al-Aqsa Mosque as their headquarters and turned the large southeastern substructure into stables for their horses, calling it “Solomon’s Stables.” The earth we are sifting originated in the area of Solomon’s Stables and has yielded many remnants of Crusader activity, including arrowheads, horseshoe nails of typical European medieval cavalry and armor scales. These finds constitute the first archaeological evidence for the Knights Templar’s utilization of Solomon’s Stables.

We have recovered numerous architectural elements from the Later Islamic periods (1187 to 1917 CE). Among the most notable finds are the glazed tiles used by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to replace the original glass mosaics which ornamented the exterior walls of the Dome of the Rock. Moreover, we have found thousands of coins from the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, which contribute significantly to the study of coins from this period. This is also true regarding the abundant pottery from this period. We plan to publish these finds specifically in great detail. This will significantly impact the archaeological record, because most excavations tend to neglect later periods or publish the finds hastily and with lacking details. Our report aims to be the most extensive typology study published on pottery from the late antiquity (Medieval – Ottoman) periods.

Other finds from these periods include many jewelry pieces, clothing articles, military badges and insignia, old musket rounds and flintlock stones, an enormous number of Ottoman tobacco pipes, and more.

The TMSP has proven to be an unprecedented and inexhaustible source of knowledge on the Temple Mount. Archaeological finds that lay hidden within its soil for thousands of years can now be scientifically analyzed and published for the first time. The results of this endeavor will shed much light on the Temple Mount’s past, its builders and re-builders, its religious and social significance, its defenders and its conquerors. Today, 14 years into this project, about 75% of the debris removed from the Temple Mount has been sifted. The project requires more funds to continue sifting many more tons of removed earth and to find many more unique and important artifacts.