Saturday, September 29, 2007

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH - more on that quarry:
Jerusalem Affairs: Hard evidence
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

For years, it was a Jerusalem archeological mystery. Where did the immense limestones used to build the Second Temple come from and how did they get there?

Some archeologists originally presumed that the quarry must have been located in close proximity to the Temple Mount, while others said it had to be located outside the built-up Old City.

But nobody knew for sure.

Then a group of archeologists from the state-run Antiquities Authority suddenly stumbled upon the quarry during a routine salvage excavation in an outlying neighborhood ahead of the planned construction of a new school.

The quarry is located in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, four kilometers northwest of the Old City, on a ridge that rises about 80 meters above the height of the Temple Mount.

"This is the first time stones which were used to build the Temple Mount walls were found," said Yuval Baruch, of the Antiquities Authority, who was involved in the dig. He said the site was used 2,000 years ago by dozens of King Herod's workers during the construction of the Mount's retaining walls.

[...]
I don't think there's anything new in this article, but it summarizes the current state of play.