Dr. Gabby Barkay lecture

We had opportunity last Saturday evening to hear a lecture by Dr. Gabriel "Gabby" Barkay, archaeology professor at JUC and respected authority on temple mount antiquities. He had a photo slideshow of just a few of the tens of thousands of artifacts that have been recovered in The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvation Operation, which he has spearheaded since 2005.

The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation is an archaeological project established in 2005 and dedicated to recovering archaeological artifacts from 300 truckloads of topsoil removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf during the construction of the underground el-Marwani Mosque from 1996-1999. A waqf is an inalienable religious endowment in Islam, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. It is conceptually similar to the common law trust.
In early 2001, Israeli police said they observed bulldozers destroying an ancient arched structure located adjacent to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount in the course of construction during which 6,000 square meters of the Temple Mount were dug up by tractors, paved, and declared to be open air mosques, which is assumed to have intermixed the underlying strata. Some of the earth and rubble removed was dumped in the El-Azaria and in the Kidron Valleys, and some of it (as of September 2004) remained in mounds on the site. The excavation and removal of earth with minimal archaeological supervision became an issue of controversy, with some scholars claiming that valuable history material is being destroyed. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) inspected the material and declared it of no archaeological value, but a group called the Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount campaigned against this position and in September 2004 obtained a temporary injunction against the IAA and the Muslim Waqf preventing them from removing the material which still lies in mounds on the site. Both sides accuse the other of having political motivation. Some claim that this will lead to the destabilization of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount, of which the Western Wall is one, and/or the al-Aqsa Mosque, and allege that one side is doing so deliberately to cause the collapse of the sacred sites of the other. Israelis allege that Palestinians are deliberately removing significant amounts of archaeological evidence about the Jewish past of the site and claim to have found significant artifacts in the fill removed by bulldozers and trucks from the Temple Mount. Muslims allege that the Israelis are deliberately damaging the remains of Islamic-era buildings found in their excavations.
Since the Waqf is granted almost full autonomy on the Islamic holy sites, Israeli archaeologists have been prevented from inspecting the area; they have, however, conducted several excavations around the Temple Mount. And since 2005, The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation is sifting through the excavated rubble of artificacts. I'm not sure which is more amazing . . . their beauty and historical significance, or the fact that a group of people would consider them refuse and have them reduced to a garbage heap outside the Old City walls . . .I found this two part radio interview of Dr. Barkay, which includes most of the historical and current information he passed on to us during the lecture. They are not long to listen to, and very informative . . .

http://odeo.com/episodes/25387551-Archeologist-Gaby-Barkay-1 Part 1
http://tsiyon.co.il/archeologist-gaby-barkay-2/
Part 2

We cooked our last meal today for the large number of short term students. They had their final exam this afternoon and the majority will be heading to their respective homes on Sunday. Some of them paid for an extension trip to Jordan which leaves early Saturday morning and returns Monday evening. And guess who gets to go with them???

Petra . . . here we come!!! Photos & blog entry next week . . .

Shalom y'all