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Last update - 19:40 21/10/2007
Archaeologists find link to 1st temple in controversial J'lem dig
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
Tags: Jerusalem dig, Temple Mount 

Israeli archaeologists overseeing a contested dig at Jerusalem's holiest site for Muslims and Jews stumbled upon a sealed archaeological level dating back to the era of the first biblical Jewish temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday.

Islamic authorities responsible for the Old City compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, said the dig was part of infrastructure work at the site to replace 40-year-old electrical cables. But the Islamic Trust denied that any discovery was made, or that any Israeli archaeologists were supervising the work.

On Sunday, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced that it had discovered fragments of ceramic table wares and animal bones dating back to the first Jewish temple - from the 6th to the 10th centuries B.C.
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The finds also included fragments of bowl rims, bases and body sherds, the base and handle of a small jug and the rim of a storage jar, the agency said in a statement.

The site represents the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It houses both the Al Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock, Islam's third-holiest shrine, built over the ruins of both biblical Jewish temples. Archaeological digs for a renovation project earlier this year by Israeli authorities next to the holy site sparked protests by Muslims.

Jon Seligman, Jerusalem regional archaeologist for the Antiquities Authority, said the find was significant since it could help scholars in reconstructing the dimensions and boundaries of the Temple Mount during the first temple period.

"The layer is a closed, sealed archaeological layer that has been undisturbed since the 8th century B.C.," he said.

But the Public Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, a group of Israeli archaeologists, downplayed the findings, saying the dig was conducted in an unprofessional manner without proper documentation. The group previously condemned the maintenance works, which included using a tractor to dig a trench, charging that digging at such a sensitive site could damage Bible-era relics and erase evidence of the presence of the biblical structures.

"I think it is a smoke screen for the ruining of antiquities," said Eilat Mazar, a member of the committee.

Seligman said the maintenance work was necessary to accommodate the thousands of worshippers who flock daily to the site. He said no damage was caused to the site and added that the discovery was merely a pleasant surprise.

"That's what makes this [archaeology] so interesting," he said. "You never know what you are going to find. It is always a bit of an adventure.
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  1.   10th to 6th centuries BCE 19:42  |  factcheck 21/10/07
  2.   Good -- lets build the 3rd jewish temple 19:43  |  augustine e johnson 21/10/07
  3.   please change 19:54  |  factcheck 21/10/07
  4.   Temple Mount 19:56  |  RonH 21/10/07
  5.   Maintenance Work? 20:41  |  Mike 21/10/07
  6.   strange headline 21:25  |  realism 21/10/07
  7.   Good -- lets build the 3rd temple 21:26  |  augustine e johnson 21/10/07
  8.   Unseemly haste 21:43  |  Esther 21/10/07
  9.   wow? 21:44  |  mohammad 21/10/07
  10.   Archeologist wanted 22:26  |  Challenged historian 21/10/07
  11.   Temple Mount fill not proof that Temples stood there 22:33  |  Ivar 21/10/07
  12.   a question of true roots 22:35  |  Paolo 21/10/07
  13.   to augustine e johnson 23:02  |  dovale 21/10/07
  14.   to mohammad 23:04  |  dovale 21/10/07
  15.   Carbon testing 23:06  |  Jackie 21/10/07
  16.   For Challenged historian 23:09  |  Jackie 21/10/07
  17.   Talkback No 1 23:12  |  Jackie 21/10/07
  18.   # 7 Ivar-Revisionist 23:42  |  Child of Israel 21/10/07
  19.   Link? 23:47  |  Axel 21/10/07
  20.   Go Jackie go! 00:11  |  Franz 22/10/07
  21.   Julian, not Justinian 01:25  |  Hank 22/10/07
  22.   Wow! 01:40  |  Rachel 22/10/07
  23.   Edomite Jews 02:46  |  Alikospah 22/10/07
  24.   mohammad this is better than whoreshiping Mecca black meteorite 02:48  |  Genuine Tosefta 22/10/07
  25.   carbon dating 03:32  |  dan 22/10/07
  26.   # 10 Challenged 03:45  |  Lynn 22/10/07
  27.   read the facts, please, all of you 04:50  |  Richard S 22/10/07
  28.   s. f mohammad 05:10  |  ala sarkozy 22/10/07
  29.   mohammad 05:31  |  maria 22/10/07
  30.   Please DON`T change 07:18  |  Yephora 22/10/07
  31.   Pathetic 09:23  |  JP 22/10/07
  32.   Photos and more info at Israeli Antiquities site 09:39  |  Gina 22/10/07
  33.   it`s kind of hard to identify strata with a trench 10:56  |  eric 22/10/07
  34.   Jewish mythology 12:23  |  The Arab Hammer 22/10/07
  35.   As real as so called holocaust 12:53  |  Farc Fincoln 22/10/07
  36.   to challenged historian 13:20  |  jul 22/10/07
  37.   ceramic finds 13:23  |  Jul 22/10/07
  38.   to arab hammer 13:26  |  jul 22/10/07
  39.   #16, Jackie 15:18  |  Anton 22/10/07
  40.   The current govt is 1000% responsible for not safeguarding Temple 16:15  |  AV 22/10/07
  41.   Israel must put archeologists on the Temple Mount 16:18  |  AV 22/10/07
  42.   # 34 Arab hammer (?) Arab Mythology 16:26  |  Lynn 22/10/07
  43.   Re: Please DON`T change 16:55  |  Jas 22/10/07
  44.   Re: read the facts, please, all of you 17:12  |  Jas 22/10/07
  45.   Arab truth 17:53  |  Dan 22/10/07
  46.   how about more arab evidence 17:57  |  Dan 22/10/07
  47.   #10 18:22  |  MichaelF 22/10/07
  48.   #11 - Ivar 18:25  |  MichaelF 22/10/07
  49.   #11 - dovale 18:30  |  MichaelF 22/10/07
  50.   MichaelIF 48, been there, seen that, so what. Prove something 18:57  |  Ivar 22/10/07
  51.   Ivar - read Josephus, Book 6, please? 20:07  |  Polybios 22/10/07
  52.   No reference before 1920??? 20:22  |  dennis 22/10/07
  53.   ARCHAEOLOGISTS SHOULD BE SWARMING 21:16  |  THE LIBRARIAN 22/10/07
  54.   ARCHEOLOGISTS TO BE CONGRATULATED 22:17  |  D.Iggit 22/10/07
  55.   J,lem Dig 23:13  |  Donaldson 22/10/07
  56.   3rd temple 04:40  |  harj binning 23/10/07
  57.   Farc Fincoln-The Devil is a LIAR! 14:31  |  believer 23/10/07
  58.   Polybios, Josephus Book 6 supports over .5km Antonia to Temple 15:00  |  Ivar 23/10/07
  59.   2nd Temple precincts vast in relation to Temple itself 15:38  |  Ivar 23/10/07
  60.   Third temple 20:45  |  Tim 23/10/07
  61.   Ivar - 1/2 km from Antonia is still on the Temple Mount! 02:27  |  Polybios 24/10/07
  62.   We agree that there was no other entity between them 08:48  |  Ivar 24/10/07
  63.   TEMPLE MOUNT 02:07  |  MORDECAI BEN HAIM 25/10/07
  64.   TEMPLE MOUNT 02:15  |  MORDECAI BEN HAIM 25/10/07
  65.   THE ARAB HAMMER 02:34  |  MORDECAI BEN HAIM 25/10/07
  66.   Temple Mount Fraca 11:49  |  Shekinah 27/10/07
  67.   To Pathetic 19:13  |  Bystander 30/10/07
  68.   Children of Israel 19:23  |  Bystander 30/10/07
  69.   moses david ,solomon nonsense like king arthur 22:35  |  mitch 24/02/08
  70.   Ivar, Plutarch was there . . . 00:15  |  Zev Davis 12/10/08
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