Archaeologist Gaby Barkay was very excited about the findings and the restorations. He sees them as a connection between his people and his ancestors. He explained that the floors may have been walked on by the ancestors of the Israelis as they went about their religious duties and so have a lot of sentimental value for the Jews. He says the floors tiles are also going to be very important to the Christians as they were trodded on by Christ himself. He also says that this is the very floor on which the coins may have rolled on when Jesus drove out the sellers in the temple.The article came out on 26 December, so it looks like the opportunity to get those floor tiles back into the news cycle a bit was not wasted. 'Tis the Season.
HT Explorator 19.35-36. Past posts on the, in itself quite important, discovery and reconstruction of those floor times from the Temple courtyard by the Temple Mount Sifting Project are here and links.
