A 10 year-old boy, participating in a public project to sift through debris on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, has found a first-of-its-kind limestone seal dating to the time of Solomon.
“The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem,” Gabriel Barkay, a co-founder and a director of
photo of the seal, image from the Jerusalem Post
the project said. “The dating of the seal corresponds to the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon.”
“What makes this discovery particularly significant is that it originated from upon the Temple Mount itself,” Barkay said.
Since 2004, the Temple Mount Sifting Project has reportedly combed through tons of soil that was illegally removed by the Islamic Wafq from the Temple Mount in 1999 as it was building a mosque. Thousands of artefacts have been unearthed by volunteers and the finds from the project were preserved for processing and scientific analysis.
The historicity of the biblical accounts of David and Solomon have been the subject of much debate through the years. However, due to the sensitivity of the site, the Temple Mount has never been the subject of an archaeological excavation, thus leading to an absence of evidence that might help in assessment of the scriptural history. The Sifting Project is an important opportunity to examine the physical history of the site and of biblical claims.
Go here for more from the Jerusalem Post on the find
