
22 Years Later…
One of the most exciting things (some call them “finds”) in the sifting project are the people who come to sift, and the stories they bring with them.
Here, for example, is the story of Saul and Sabina Primer from Kfar Saba, who visited…

– Call for Papers –
- Call for Papers -
The First International Academic Conference on New Studies in Temple Mount Research
No other site in the world evokes so many feelings, yearnings, curiosity, and as much public interest as the Temple Mount. A mere…

An Important Clarification: We have nothing to do with the new venture My Evven
A new venture called My Evven has been launched online by tourism entrepreneur Uri Steinberg, which markets stones that allegedly originate from debris removed from Waqf excavations on the Temple Mount. The alleged certificate of the origin…

The Educational Value of a Stolen Pot Handle
The last part of the sifting activity is the summary, where the archaeologist on duty picks out a selection of the most interesting artifacts the group has found and arranges them on a tray, gathers the member of the group together and…

Find and Finder of the Month: Yarden Shor discovered an 8th Century CE Arabic inscription
Yarder Shor with a fragment of a Kufic inscription.
The find chosen for this month was discovered by Yarden Shor, 7 years old, from Jerusalem, who took part in the sifting project towards the end of this summer. She revealed a piece of a…

Help Support the Participation of School Students in the Sifting
Now that the summer is over, and with incoming tourism still off the board, organized school trips remain as our major way of continuing the sifting.
This is where you come in! You may now help fund school students at the sifting.

Find and Finder of the Month: ‘LMLK’ Seal Impression, found by Eliya Danieli
The Danieli family is a familiar sight at the sifting site, returning every year at the start of the month of Av, to connect and feel the soil of the Temple Mount during the days in which the destruction of the Temple is remembered.
But…

Find and Finder of the Month: Ivory Legs Found by Lev Simcha Levi
It has been quite challenging over the past year to keep posting a Find of the Month article each on a consistent basis, considering the slow pace of the sifting due to the numerous lockdowns and Covid-19 regulations and restrictions.…

Will you be Lucky Enough to Find the next Pur?
The lockdown is over and we're back to sifting! We're of course practicing Covid-19 precautions, with groups of up to 20 (We’re currently looking into allocating separate hours during which we’ll be able to accommodate larger groups, in…

Check Out Our New Beautiful Reconstruction of Herod’s Temple Courts Colorful Floors
We’ve just recently installed at the sifting site at Mitzpe Hamasu’ot a new reconstruction of the colorful floor that decorated the courts of Herod’s Temple. Since we published a preliminary report several years ago on the reconstruction…

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…

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…