The Southern Wall of the Temple Mount and Its Corners

The Temple Mount compound (known in Arabic as the Haram aš-Šarīf), situated on the east side of the Old City of urban Jerusalem, is a majestic and holy site that has been venerated by millions for more than two thousand years. The compound’s interior has been out of bounds to Western archaeologists for over a century, and modern researchers have therefore concentrated their efforts on the massive ancient stone walls that surround it.

The third volume in the Ancient Jerusalem Publication series, The Southern Wall of the Temple Mount and Its Corners: Past, Present and Future concentrates on the southern retaining wall of the Herodian Temple Mount in Jerusalem, its two corners, and Robinson’s Arch on the southern edge of the Western Wall. It presents the final reports of three excavations carried out adjacent to the wall and one under Robinson’s Arch. Among the many new interpretations, the excavators present intriguing theories regarding the engineering of an ancient ramp for herding sacrificial animals up to the Temple Mount and a new reading of an Isaiah 66:14 graffito. The volume devotes a large section to conservation projects carried out in order to understand the problems causing the deterioration of the stones in the southern part of the Western Wall and find solutions to protect and preserve them. The volume also presents details of a major ground penetrating radar examination of this stretch of the Western Wall.

“The Temple Mount/Haram aš-Šarīf has fascinated scholars since the dawn of modern archaeology, and the pious for millennia before that. The studies assembled here document excavations and conservation at the southern and southwestern retaining walls of the Herodian Temple, with special care for all periods—from the Iron Age to Herod the Great to medieval Islam. This magnificent volume is a monument to decades of dedicated research, a resource for generations to come!”—Steven Fine, Churgin Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University

Yuval Baruch is head of the Archaeology Division at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Ronny Reich is Professor Emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

Moran Hagbi is a field and research archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Joe Uziel is head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Preface Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

PART I: THE SOUTHERN WALL: ITS HISTORICAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

Chapter 2 HISTORY OF RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION ALONG THE SOUTHERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT/ḤARAM AŠ-ŠARĪF: FROM FREDERICK CATHERWOOD TO CONRAD SCHICK Shimon Gibson

Chapter 3 TOPOGRAPHY Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

PART IIA: EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER

Chapter 4 EXCAVATION NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER— AREAS A AND B Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

Chapter 5 THE ROADS LEADING TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT FROM THE SOUTH Yuval Baruch and Roddy Reich

Chapter 6 IRON AGE POTTERY FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Efrat Bocher

Chapter 7 EARLY ROMAN–BYZANTINE POTTERY FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Dèbora Sandhaus

Chapter 8 ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENTS FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Orit Peleg-Barkat

Chapter 9 STAMP IMPRESSIONS OF THE LEGIO X FRETENSIS FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Benjamin J. Dolinka and Filip Vukosavović

Chapter 10 LATE ROMAN DUCK HEAD FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Yuval Baruch and Dèbora Sandhaus

Chapter 11 COINS AND A FLAN MOLD FROM EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Donald T. Ariel

Chapter 12 EARLY ROMAN PERIOD STONE VESSELS AND OBJECTS FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Ronny Reich

Chapter 13 FAUNAL REMAINS FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Abra Spiciarich and Lidar Sapir-Hen

Chapter 14 BONE IMPLEMENTS FOUND NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Ronny Reich

Chapter 15 SUMMARY OF EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

INDEX OF LOCI AND WALLS

PART IIB: EXCAVATIONS WEST OF THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER

Chapter 16 THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS: STRATIGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE Moran Hagbi and Joe Uziel

Chapter 17 POTTERY FROM THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS Moran Hagbi and Joe Uziel

Chapter 18 CATALOG OF SMALL FINDS FROM THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS EXCAVATIONS

Moran Hagbi and Joe Uziel

Chapter 19 COINS FOUND ALONG THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS EXCAVATIONS Donald T. Ariel

Chapter 20 GLASS FINDS FROM THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS EXCAVATIONS Tamar Winter

Chapter 21 STONE VESSELS FROM THE EXCAVATIONS ALONG THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS Ayala Zilberstein

Chapter 22 ANIMAL BONE REMAINS FROM THE EXCAVATIONS ALONG THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS Nimrod Marom

Chapter 23 DENDROARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF REMAINS FOUND AT THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS Helena Roth and Dafna Langgut

Chapter 24 RESIDUE ANALYSIS OF FILLS EXCAVATED ALONG THE

WESTERN WALL FOUNDATIONS Dvory Namdar

Chapter 25 THE EXCAVATION ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS Moran Hagbi and Joe Uziel

INDEX OF LOCI AND WALLS

PART IIC: EXCAVATIONS AT AN ISLAMIC CEMETERY

Chapter 26 AN EARLY ISLAMIC CEMETERY AT THE EDGE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT

Ronny Reich, Yaakov Billig and Yossi Nagar

PART III: STUDIES IN THE VICINITY OF THE WALLS

Chapter 27 OBSERVATIONS ON THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUTHERN WALL Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

Chapter 28 SCULPTURAL DECORATION OF THE FAÇADE OF THE DOUBLE GATE: A NEW STYLISTIC APPROACH Svetlana Tarkhanova

Chapter 29 HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS Ronny Reich, Yuval Baruch, Dror Czitron and Hélène Machline

Chapter 30 THE ISAIAH 66:14 INSCRIPTION RECONSIDERED Ronny Reich and Yaakov Billig

Chapter 31 ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS Moshe Sharon

Chapter 32 THE THICKNESS OF THE WESTERN WALL: GROUND PENETRATING RADAR IMAGING

Uri Basson

Chapter 33 RADIOCARBON ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT Johanna Regev and Elisabetta Boaretto

PART IV: CONSERVATION OF THE SOUTHERN WALL AND THE AREA OF ROBINSON’S ARCH

Chapter 34 CONSERVATION OF THE SOUTHERN WALL Ofer Cohen

Chapter 35 CONSERVATION SURVEY OF THE ASHLARS OF THE WESTERN WALL

Yonathan Tzahor, Yosef Vaknin, Yael Kalman and Dorit Tsipshtein

Chapter 36 DEGRADATION OF THE STONES IN THE WESTERN WALL: SALT DISTRIBUTION OVER THREE DECADES

Yotam Asscher, Aliza Van Zuiden and Meidad Shor

Chapter 37 CONSERVATION PHILOSOPHY AND WORK ON THE BASE OF THE WESTERN WALL

Aliza Van Zuiden

PART V: SYNTHESIS AND SUMMARY

Chapter 38 PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Yuval Baruch and Ronny Reich

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