Find and Finder of the Month: A Rare Gold Bead from the First Temple Period found by Binyamin Milt

Binyamin Milt from Jerusalem who found the Gold Bead. Because of the Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions over the past few months, it took a while until we managed to go over the multitude of artifacts found in the sifting over August. We…
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Adopt a Coin!

When ancient coins are found in archaeological digs, it is usually impossible to identify their design elements or inscriptions, due to the accumulation over time of corrosion or encrustation. Therefore, these coins must be sent to a restoration…

From the Temple Mount on the eve of Rosh Hashana: A flash-back to seder night…

By the end of a very busy Summer vacation, which saw a multitude of visitors descend on the sifting site, we had amassed a veritable collection of buckets of archaeological artifacts picked out by visitors, which were waiting for preliminary…

Find & Finder of the Month: A Three-Weeks Coin Found by Matanya Hacohen

Like the rest of the world, we are still struggling with realities imposed on us by COVID-19, but we have been able to resume semi-normal activities at the sifting site, and together with them we are happy to resume our Find of the Month posts! Our…
screenshot of virtual exhibition

Check Out Our New Virtual Exhibition

For all those who couldn't attend our exhibition that was displayed at the new sifting site’s grand opening last year, we've made a virtual exhibition available for you on our website. The artifacts displayed are just glimpse of what was found…
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Passover Update

We are all facing troubled times. Here at the Temple Mount Sifting Project we have chosen to continue sifting, even without guests or volunteers. We want to keep the fire burning, a sort of eternal flame. The present situation is forcing all…
The next heap to be sifted -KIF10
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KI10 Here We Come!

When we transported the piles of Temple Mount soil debris from their initial dumping sites, we hypothesized that the piles were not evenly and completely mixed, but rather were distributed like a lightly tossed salad, such that different piles…

Find & Finder of the Month: A Bulla of an Unknown Type, Discovered by the Schwartzes

This month we present you with Miriam and Elie Schwartz, of Philadelphia, PA, who found a small pottery shard, which may look unimportant at first glance (even to some of our seasoned archaeologists). However, on careful examination, some interesting…

The History of The Temple Mount in 12 Objects: #4 The Early Second Temple Period

Rejoice! Our series - The Temple Mount in 12 objects is back! We turn our attention now to the Persian Period. The Persian Period begins in 539 BCE, with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus the Great and ends in 333 BCE, when the forces of Alexander…
Joe Putting with his find
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Find of the Month: Ancient Key Opens the Door to Mystery – Pastor Joe Putting

Along with the resumption of the sifting we decided also to revive our Find of the Month posts, fondly remembered from our years of sifting at the Tzurim Valley. This month we are excited to announce the discovery of a fragment of an…
sorting artifacts for the opening exhibition
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Complete Pandemonium Towards the Jerusalem Day Exhibit

Hey there, Ladies and Gents! So, the lab is in complete pandemonium and we have been working around the clock to prepare the Jerusalem Day exhibit. When we scheduled the opening of the new sifting site to the first Sunday in June, we were…
gibeon sealing found in the sifting
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The History of the Temple Mount in 12 Objects: #3 The Late First Temple Period

As we continue with our 12-post series on objects in the history of the Temple Mount, let us turn to the Late First Temple period – Iron Age IIb-c, in the 8th through 6th centuries BCE. During this time of the year, multitudes of business…