TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The Waqf's excavations have reportedly produced a stone inscription that mentions Flavius Silva, the Roman governor who conquered Masada. This is the first I can remember hearing of it.

Hungarian archaeologist discovers tablet mentioning Masada's destroyer

By Nadav Shragai
Last Update: 01/11/2006 12:23 (Haaretz)

In 73 CE, the Roman governor of Judea, Flavius Silva, laid siege to Masada with Legion X Fretensis. When the walls were broken down by a battering ram, the Romans found the fortress' defenders had set fire to all the structures and preferred mass suicide to captivity or defeat. Masada has since become part of Jewish mythology, as has the name Silva, who Josephus Flavius mentions in his writings. It is therefore no great surprise that Hungarian archaeologist Dr. Tibor Grull, studying in Israel three years ago, was excited to discover a stone tablet during a visit to the Temple Mount with a Latin inscription of the name of Masada's destroyer.

Grull asked officials of the Waqf, the Muslim trust for the Temple Mount, where the tablet came from, and they explained it had been found in the large hole dug in the mount in 1999 when the entrance to Solomon's Stables was opened. The Hungarian archaeologist received rare permission to photograph and document the finding.

[...]

(You may see code glitches at the article's web page.) If this is accurate, it supports the view that the fill in the Temple Mount contains important artifacts and should not be tampered with apart from controlled scientific archaeological excavations.

The article says that Haaretz is publishing photographs, but none are present.

(Via the Agade list.)

UPDATE (2 November): Menachem Brody e-mails to point out this image, but unfortunately its quality is very poor.