Temple Mount Sifting Project staff and volunteers carefully sift through truckloads of dirt from the Temple Mount. Thanks to the success of the project, wet-sifting is also being used to check for small finds in dirt from other excavations. This led to the discovery of Jerusalem’s oldest writing, a 14th-century cuneiform fragment. Hershel Shanks argues the Megiddo expedition could benefit from wet-sifting the site’s old excavation dumps. (Photo courtesy Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com)
I have in mind the Muslim Waqf’s illegal excavation on the Temple Mount to accommodate a new, larger entrance to the underground Marwani mosque. Truckloads of dirt were dug without regard to archaeological method and then unceremoniously dumped into the Kidron Valley.
When archaeology student Zachi Dvira (Zweig) started rummaging around in the dump, the Israel Antiquities Authority had him arrested for digging without a permit. Zachi’s teacher, prominent Jerusalem archaeologist Gaby Barkay, obtained a permit, and the two of them initiated their famous ‘sifting project.’ With the help of tens of thousands of volunteers, they have been wet-sifting the archaeologically rich dirt—and have discovered thousands of objects from ancient times, including finds from the First and Second Temple periods … this led to the thought that the dirt from professionally excavated sites should also be wet-sifted. Important small objects, like seals or seal impressions (bullae) or other inscriptions, might well be missed even in a careful, archaeologically supervised excavation.
And that’s how wet-sifting uncovered Jerusalem’s oldest writing in Eilat Mazar’s dig.
In our free eBook Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries, learn the fascinating stories and insights gained from artifacts and ruins, like the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, where the Gospel of John says Jesus miraculously restored the sight of the blind man, and the Tel Dan inscription—the first historical evidence of King David outside the Bible.
Hershel Shanks argues that the success of the Temple Mount Sifting Project should encourage Megiddo expedition excavators to try wet sifting these Megiddo dumps, which have already produced important finds that were missed in the earlier 1930s dig. (Photo courtesy Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com)
One of the most significant finds that prompted archaeologists David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein to restart the Megiddo expedition in 1994 was the discovery of a Late Bronze Age (15th-13th centuries B.C.) tablet containing the famous Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh. It was found in the Megiddo dumps. Hershel Shanks suggests that “Perhaps part of that cuneiform archive may still be buried in the Megiddo dump waiting to be wet-sifted.”
BAS Library Members: For more about how wet-sifting revealed Jerusalem’s oldest writing and why Hershel Shanks thinks it might benefit the Tel Megiddo expedition, read Hershel Shanks, “Wet-Sift the Megiddo Dumps!” as it appears in the March/April 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a BAS Library member yet? Sign up today.
Permalink: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/hershel-shanks-urges-megiddo-expedition-to-try-wet-sifting/
Previous
please publish an article about the make up of the ink that was used to write on the pot sherds. i tell people about the sifting project and they always ask how it is that the ink does not disolve in the wet sifting?