Excavations at the Temple Mount

The term “excavations at the Temple Mount” covers different kinds of work: archaeological excavation on the raised sacred platform, investigation of structures beneath it, tunnelling along the exterior of its retaining walls, and excavations in areas immediately south and west. These distinctions matter because many of the large projects commonly associated with the Mount took place outside the compound, while systematic excavation of undisturbed deposits on the platform itself has been rare.[1][2]

Jerusalem’s archaeological study is complicated by its successive historical layers and by the presence of ancient remains beneath buildings sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.[3] A scholarly chapter on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount distinguishes surveys and architectural documentation from excavation, and states that no proper scientific archaeological excavation was conducted on the platform apart from limited work during repairs to al-Aqsa Mosque under the British Mandate.[1] This description does not mean that the site was never surveyed, observed, or subject to archaeological work during repairs and infrastructure projects.[4]

After Israel captured the Old City in 1967, the postwar arrangement left day-to-day management of the Mount with the Muslim Waqf while Israel applied its law in East Jerusalem; accounts describe the division of responsibilities and its legal reach as contested.[2][5] Israeli antiquities officials maintained contacts with the Waqf and sometimes inspected construction or earth-moving work. Following a 1988 Supreme Court appeal and directives from the attorney general, the relevant antiquities bodies conducted regular inspection tours and reported on work at the site.[1]

The Institute for National Security Studies describes the post-1967 arrangement as a modus vivendi in which Israel granted the Jordanian Waqf authority to manage activities at the site, including maintenance and excavation. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research likewise describes Israeli law applying in East Jerusalem while the Waqf retained daily management, and notes that disputes over status and jurisdiction shaped decisions about physical work.[5][2] This division did not settle who could authorize, supervise, or halt a particular project. It also meant that work outside the platform—such as archaeological or tourism projects to the south and west—could be disputed when the Waqf regarded the surrounding area as part of Al-Haram al-Sharif.[2]

Nineteenth-century interest in the Mount combined religious motivations, adventurism, imperial activity, and scientific inquiry. Charles Wilson’s 1865 work and Charles Warren’s excavations from 1867 to 1870 became especially important surveys; their records of visible and underground structures remain foundational to later research.[1] Wilson mapped Jerusalem in 1864, while Warren investigated the Herodian enclosure walls for the Palestine Exploration Fund and documented features including Robinson’s Arch, Wilson’s Arch, and vaulted areas southwest of the Mount.[3]

Warren’s investigations were largely around the Mount rather than excavations on its sacred platform. One account says he could not obtain Waqf permission to excavate on the Mount and instead dug shafts around it, some as deep as 30 metres; Conrad Schick also mapped underground systems using shafts and channels.[4] Warren’s descriptions and sketches remained useful to scholars, and later excavations confirmed his suggestion that Robinson’s Arch had supported steps descending toward the valley.[3]

The Parker expedition, which began work around the Gihon Spring, Warren’s Shaft, and the Siloam Tunnel in 1909, sought underground passages that might lead to treasure beneath the Mount. After failing to find the desired treasure in work south of the platform, the team secretly entered the Mount in April 1911 and dug for nine nights, including in the southeastern area known as Solomon’s Stables and in the Dome of the Rock. The secret activity was discovered and provoked protests; the expedition’s work south of the Mount did uncover tombs, pottery, and other material, but not the treasures its organizers sought.[6]

The National Library of Israel’s account says the expedition employed about 300 local workers, with difficult underground tasks conducted in rotating shifts. Archaeologist Louis-Hugues Vincent described conditions in which candles stopped burning, workers relied on electric lanterns and oxygen capsules, and teams had to be relieved every hour. Vincent’s documented archaeological work was south of the platform; the account says he did not participate in the expedition’s secret on-platform digging.[6]

During the British Mandate, Ernest T. Richmond surveyed the Dome of the Rock in 1918 and published his findings in 1924. From 1938 to 1942, Robert W. Hamilton, the Mandate’s director of antiquities, documented al-Aqsa Mosque and undertook limited archaeological work inside the building while extensive repairs were in progress.[1] The repairs followed earthquakes that had damaged the mosque in 1927 and 1937. Hamilton’s work, coordinated with the Waqf, included investigation beneath the mosque’s piers.[7]

A later account of Hamilton’s investigation reports that it uncovered a Byzantine-period mosaic floor and, beneath it, a ritual bath identified as dating to the Second Temple period. It says Hamilton photographed and labelled these finds in an archival file but did not include them in his publication on the mosque.[7] Archaeologists have differed over what the mosaic represented: one interpretation identified a likely church or monastery, while mosaic specialist Rina Talgam said it could instead have belonged to a hostel or another public building.[7]

After Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967, archaeological research resumed in the Old City, especially near the Mount’s western and southern walls. The boundary between this work and excavation on the sacred platform is central to accounts of the period: major projects exposed the Mount’s exterior retaining structures and adjacent ancient urban remains, but did not amount to a conventional excavation of the platform itself.[3][1]

Kathleen Kenyon conducted a small excavation south of al-Aqsa Mosque in 1967 and uncovered part of a building later identified as belonging to an Umayyad palace. Israeli scholars also documented structures on the Mount after the Six-Day War. Large excavations led by Benjamin Mazar and Meir Ben-Dov in the area south of the Mount exposed Herodian structures around it and substantial Umayyad buildings, changing archaeological understanding of the Umayyad period.[1]

Mazar directed large-scale excavations at the southern and southwestern foot of the Mount from 1968 to 1978.[3] A separate account dates work at the foot of the southern wall to 1968–1978 and says it began on 28 February 1968 under an Israel Antiquities Authority licence. It reports that Mazar had first sought permission to excavate at the Western Wall but was refused by the minister of religious affairs and the Chief Rabbinate, who regarded it as a place of prayer; he then undertook work south of the wall with academic and public support.[8] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research dates the start of Western Wall Tunnel excavation to 1969, while another account dates excavation along the full Western Wall to 1968 and the tunnel project to 1968–1985; these dates may refer to different stages or definitions of the work.[2][8]

Excavations south and southwest of the Mount revealed remains from numerous periods. Work in the early 1970s in the southern area uncovered Byzantine and Eastern Roman remains, Umayyad buildings and palaces, Abbasid burial sites, and structures dated to the Second Temple or early Roman period; the site later became the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.[2] Excavations around the southwestern corner exposed a broad paved street alongside the southern wall leading toward the Huldah Gates, a large staircase, ritual purification pools, and the base of Robinson’s Arch.[3]

Between 1993 and 1997, archaeologists working between the Western Wall and the Mount’s southwestern corner exposed a 70-metre stretch of Herodian street, about 10 metres wide, with large paving stones, curbs, drains, and shops. Robinson’s Arch, its supporting pier, and vaults helped clarify how a monumental staircase connected the street with the Mount.[9] Archaeologists also found a partially preserved Hebrew inscription on a stone interpreted as coming from the Mount’s southwestern corner, where priests announced the beginning of the Sabbath.[9]

Accounts of Mazar and Ben-Dov’s work describe additional remains south of the wall, including a paved late Second Temple-period road, four Umayyad palaces, remains from Byzantine and medieval periods, the Huldah Gates and monumental staircase, and a network of ritual baths associated with visitors in the Second Temple period.[8] These findings are attributed to an account that argues the excavation was south of, and did not extend beneath, the compound.[8]

The Western Wall Tunnel is a major example of the difference between work on the platform and archaeological investigation along its perimeter. It was excavated along the outer face of the western retaining wall, outside the Temple Mount itself, to expose portions of the Herodian wall obscured by buildings in use.[10] One account says the project exposed about 500 metres of continuous wall and remains from several periods, including Herodian streets and masonry, probable Umayyad-period reconstruction, and Ayyubid- and Mamluk-period structures. A water channel near the northern end was tentatively dated to the Hasmonean period.[10]

The project’s origins and oversight are described differently in the sources. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research says the Ministry of Religion initiated tunnel excavation in 1969 without archaeological supervision or an organized research project, and that the Waqf perceived the work as a threat to Muslim rights at the site.[2] Another account says the Chief Rabbinate and Ministry of Religious Affairs initiated a 320-metre tunnel from vaults beneath Wilson’s Arch toward the Hasmonean aqueduct near the Struthion Pool; it reports that work continued for more than ten years without archaeological supervision or permission from owners of structures above it. Concerns over subsidence and cracks in nearby buildings contributed to protests, which eased after consolidation work on those buildings.[1]

In 1981, a dispute arose over a passage connected to the tunnel. One account says the Western Wall rabbi, Yehuda Getz, began removing stones that separated the tunnel from a cistern within the Haram, about 80 metres from the Dome of the Rock. A brief fistfight followed between Waqf employees and workers under Getz’s supervision; police stopped it, and the government ordered the opening sealed.[1]

The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research describes the episode differently: it says the Western Wall rabbi announced that a separate passage was being opened eastward from the tunnel’s northern section, after which Waqf members entered under police protection, sealed it with concrete, and flooded it amid fears of serious unrest.[2] The accounts differ over the immediate sequence and the role of the parties. A further description identifies the passage as an existing Second Temple-era route, about 30 metres beneath the compound, whose blockage and mud Getz removed without authorization; it says Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Police Minister Yosef Burg ordered it sealed.[2]

The northern exit of the Western Wall Tunnel opened in September 1996 after a project that had been under way for years. The Washington Institute’s contemporary analysis says the final few feet of the Hasmonean Tunnel were opened and argues that the tunnel did not touch, connect to, or cross land containing Muslim holy shrines.[11] The same analysis describes the opening as the ostensible trigger for rioting but argues that it was mainly a pretext amid broader Israeli-Palestinian tensions.[11]

The tunnel opening was widely followed by protests and clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli security forces. A chapter on the Mount describes the opening as ill-timed and a catalyst for violence. It reports 57 Palestinians and 15 Israelis killed in the ensuing riots, whereas the U.S. State Department’s 1996 human-rights report gives 58 Palestinians and 16 Israelis killed, with many hundreds injured.[1][12] The casualty totals therefore differ between these sources.[1][12]

The Washington Institute analysis also reports that previous Israeli governments had quietly discussed a possible bargain with the Islamic Waqf: completing the tunnel in exchange for opening Solomon’s Stables for Muslim prayer. It says the Waqf had at one point agreed to the arrangement in principle.[11] The chapter on the site says some officials interpreted the tunnel opening as connected to an arrangement involving Waqf use of Solomon’s Stables.[1] These accounts describe a disputed political context rather than a settled explanation for the opening or the violence.

The 1996 episode also affected informal archaeological coordination. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research reports that after the opening, the Waqf ended technical cooperation that had allowed Israel Antiquities Authority inspectors to visit and inspect buildings on the site.[2] This breakdown took place amid wider disagreement about whether Israeli authorities or the Waqf could approve work and which legal framework governed construction on the compound.[2]

Work in the southern part of the compound during the 1990s became one of the most contested episodes in the Mount’s archaeological history. The area known as Solomon’s Stables was prepared as an underground prayer hall, now called the Marwani Mosque. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research says the Waqf and the Northern Islamic Movement undertook work there, including removal of earth with heavy mechanical equipment without archaeological supervision.[2] A scholarly chapter says preparation for Muslim worship involved the Israeli Islamic Movement and hundreds of volunteers, and that the area was converted into a prayer hall called Marwani Hall or Mosque; it reports drilling into ancient walls and curtailed Antiquities Authority inspection, as the chapter authors’ account of a contested episode.[1]

Sources give different descriptions, periods, and estimates for the earth removal. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research describes work in the 1990s, while the Times of Israel reports excavation activity between 1996 and 1999 and says heavy machinery removed tens of thousands of tons—about 400 truckloads—of soil that was dumped outside the Old City.[2][13] A 2020 interview describes an emergency opening created by a pit about 14 metres deep and 30 by 30 metres across, with soil containing archaeological layers removed and dumped outside the Mount.[4] A separate Ynet report gives a figure of about 12,000 tons in 1999, or roughly 250 truckloads, while another gives about 9,000 tons removed over 1996–1999.[14][15] The available accounts do not reconcile these differing totals or scopes.

A scholarly chapter says that toward the end of 1999 a large pit was dug with heavy machinery to create a staircase and entrance to Solomon’s Stables, without archaeological supervision. It quotes Israel Antiquities Authority director Amir Drori calling the episode an “archaeological crime.”[1] That phrase is Drori’s characterization, not a neutral legal finding. The chapter reports that the removed soil and debris were taken outside the Mount and that archaeologists later identified pottery from the Iron Age through Ottoman period, glass fragments, glazed tiles, stone vessels, metal objects, beads, and coins among the material.[1]

The Waqf’s position is also represented in the reporting. A Ynet article says the Waqf described the 1999 work as construction of an emergency exit and rejected allegations of damage as baseless, stating that its policy was to preserve and respect human heritage.[14] Other accounts characterize the work as unauthorized or illegal, but such legal conclusions are politically contested and depend on the disputed allocation of authority at the site.[2][13]

In the early 2000s, cracks and bulges appeared in the Mount’s southern and eastern walls, and Israel Antiquities Authority engineers reportedly assessed that the walls faced a danger of collapse. Nadav Shragai’s account attributes some weakening to construction of the underground Marwani Mosque; that causal attribution and the allocation of responsibility are the author’s claims rather than an independently established finding in the cited source.[16] The account says Israeli police, coordinating with the Antiquities Authority, restricted use of part of Solomon’s Stables over stability concerns, after which maintenance and reinforcement began on the inner eastern wall. It also reports that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assigned a Jordanian delegation to restore damaged areas of the eastern and southern walls, in the context of a contested dispute over authority to oversee work.[16]

The Temple Mount Sifting Project began in 2004 to examine soil and rubble removed during construction-related work in the compound and dumped in the Kidron Valley. Archaeologists Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Zweig led the project, which is distinct from a conventional excavation of undisturbed layers in place.[13][17] The material had lost its original stratigraphic context, limiting conclusions about the depth at which an object was found and what other objects were associated with it.[13]

The sifting process included an initial dry sift followed by volunteers washing buckets of earth through sieves. Recovered objects were cleaned, photographed, digitized, and catalogued.[13] A Jewish Virtual Library account lists pottery from the Bronze Age and First Temple periods, more than 100 coins—including Hasmonean coins and one bearing the inscription “For the Freedom of Zion”—as well as a Hasmonean lamp, arrowheads, an ivory comb, and figurines.[17]

Reports describe a broad range of recovered material: coins, pottery fragments, figurines, mosaic tiles, beads, arrowheads, inscribed stones, bone fragments, and other objects. Project researchers date many finds through typological comparison with similar objects recovered in archaeological contexts elsewhere.[13] Among reported finds are a half-shekel minted in the first year of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, in 66 CE; a sixth-century BCE clay seal impression bearing the name of a Judean official; and golden mosaic tiles attributed to the early Islamic period and said to have decorated the Dome of the Rock’s exterior.[13]

In October 2016, archaeologists associated with the project announced that materials collected between 2007 and 2015 included the first artifacts from the site that they said were officially and conclusively dated to the First Temple period. The broader assemblage presented included olive pits, animal bones, pottery fragments, Roman coins, and arrowheads; the announcement was made at a Hebrew University press conference on 26 October 2016.[18] The project’s finds include objects attributed to Jewish, Roman, Byzantine, and later Islamic periods, among other eras.[13][18]

The limits of the material’s context remain important. Barkay acknowledged that the sifted material had no intact context and that researchers did not know the original depth or which objects had been associated; archaeologist Israel Finkelstein cautioned that the debris could have come from places other than the Mount.[13] Specialists also disagree over the project’s archaeological value and public framing: Barkay defended the importance of recovering and studying the material, while Emek Shaveh director Yonathan Mizrachi argued that uncontextualized artifacts have little scientific value and that the project shapes modern narratives about the site.[13] The same report described criticism of educational presentations for emphasizing Jewish history without mentioning Islam or Arabs.[13]

A snowstorm in 2004 damaged the earthen ramp leading to the Mughrabi Gate, and part of the ramp collapsed. It was replaced temporarily with a wooden bridge, after which Israel pursued archaeological investigation, partial demolition, and plans for a permanent bridge between the Western Wall plaza and the Temple Mount.[19][20] The proposed work drew Waqf protests and a UNESCO technical mission, which recommended that it stop.[19]

Israeli archaeologists began an exploratory dig in February 2007 ahead of plans to replace the ramp. The World Jewish Congress reported that the stated purpose was to check for remains that might be damaged by construction of the walkway; Israel’s position was that the preparatory work took place outside the compound and about 50 yards away.[20] A separate report gave the distance from Islamic shrines as about 60 metres and said Israel promised that the work would not harm them.[21] Palestinians and Arab states protested, alleging that Israel intended to damage Muslim holy sites, an allegation Israel denied.[20]

The Israel Antiquities Authority said it was considering live cameras to demonstrate transparency. A spokesperson described the work as “not under Temple Mount, not on the way to Temple Mount and far from Temple Mount.”[21] Protests and public concern continued despite these assurances.[21] On 26 February 2007, UNESCO planned to send experts to inspect the excavation after consulting Israeli and Islamic authorities. UNESCO said it hoped the fact-finding mission would help ease tensions and restore confidence.[22]

A politically engaged account says the Israel Antiquities Authority rescue excavations, begun on 11 February, had revealed remains of about 20 rooms by July. Reported finds included houses of the Mughrabi Quarter, Ottoman-period ceramics and coins, twentieth-century household objects, Mamluk-period material, walls dated to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and a mihrab from a prayer building.[8] The account states that the excavation was outside the Temple Mount compound. It also reproduces a March 2007 UNESCO delegation statement that no work was being conducted inside the Haram es-Sharif and that the work area ended about 10 metres from the Western Wall; the delegation said work used light equipment and professional supervision.[8]

The boundary and purpose of the 2007 work remained disputed. The different proximity figures—about 50 yards from the compound in one report, about 60 metres from the shrines in another, and about 10 metres from the Western Wall in the reproduced UNESCO statement—refer to different points of reference and are not directly interchangeable.[20][21][8] The State Department later reported that reinforcement and nearby excavations continued in 2014 despite Waqf concerns about coordination and possible destabilization; a second ramp built briefly that August was removed several weeks later after criticism by Waqf and Jordanian officials.[19]

Archaeological observation on the platform has sometimes occurred during maintenance rather than through a planned excavation. A trench dug for electrical cables in 2007 provided an opportunity to observe deposits below the surface, described in one report as the first such opportunity since 1967. The Waqf had received permission from Israeli police and the Electric Corporation to lay the cable, but some archaeologists criticized the work for lacking careful supervision and detailed documentation.[23]

The trench exposed pottery fragments characteristic of the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, animal bones, and charred olive pits in a layer attributed to the First Temple period. Researchers reported radiocarbon dates for the olives between the sixth and eighth centuries BCE, consistent with the pottery dating. The trench also yielded a Roman coin dated to 383 CE and iron arrowheads, which researchers suggested could indicate Roman-period activity in the courtyard between the raised platform and al-Aqsa Mosque.[23]

The Israel Antiquities Authority’s work from 2007 through the period covered by a 2016 report arose from infrastructure maintenance serving al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Yuval Baruch, who headed the Authority’s work, characterized it as limited inspection during which finds were made, rather than conventional excavation at a selected site.[23] Reported discoveries included a previously undocumented monumental structure believed to date to the eleventh or twelfth centuries, as well as Roman-period and First Temple-period material.[23]

Other maintenance projects also offered opportunities for observation. During Waqf work replacing paving north of the Dome of the Rock in 2009, Baruch accompanied the work and excavated along a path, documenting a structure about 40 metres long that he dated to the ninth century. During cable-replacement work in 2008, his team identified a homogeneous soil layer dated to the First Temple period.[4] These accounts distinguish such limited inspection from direct, systematic archaeological excavation of a selected area.[23]

A 2007 report also describes Waqf trenches for electrical cables, including one said to be 222 metres long. It says mechanical equipment was used at a depth that endangered potential antiquities, while noting that the Waqf coordinated the start date with Israeli police. The report characterizes the work as a violation of Israeli law; that legal characterization must be read alongside the dispute over which authority and legal framework governed such work.[2]

Archaeological projects continued along the Mount’s perimeter and in nearby areas, which should not be conflated with excavation on the platform. The Jerusalem Archaeological Park and related sites to the south preserve remains spanning several periods, including the Herodian street, shops, Robinson’s Arch, and the Huldah Steps.[2][9] Ynet describes the archaeological garden, also called the Ophel or Davidson Center, as lying beneath the southern wall and along part of the western wall, outside the prayer plaza. Finds there range from the Bronze Age to the end of the Ottoman period; many Second Temple-period structures and objects are displayed in their original locations.[24]

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation continued excavations near the Western Wall Plaza, including tunnels beneath the Old City’s Muslim Quarter. The U.S. State Department’s 2017 religious-freedom report says the Waqf regarded these works as altering the religious landscape around the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.[25] A court decision required proper management of tunnel sections considered significant to Muslims and Christians following the discovery of a Christian chapel, an Islamic school, and Mamluk-era Islamic buildings. The report also notes that Israeli law required approval by a ministerial committee for excavations within a sacred site.[25]

These projects exposed structures and material from different religious and political periods, but their significance and governance have been interpreted differently. Britannica describes the 1996 tunnel opening as provoking Muslim fears that the work might undermine Islamic structures on the Mount, followed by rioting; it also records Jewish concerns that Waqf renovations and excavations begun in the late 1990s might endanger Jewish cultural remains.[26] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research notes that Israeli archaeological and tourism projects south and west of the platform could themselves become points of conflict because of differing views over the boundaries of the Haram and the Mount.[2]

The archaeological record around the Mount has substantially expanded knowledge of Jerusalem’s layered history. Surveys by Wilson and Warren documented visible and underground structures.[1][3] Post-1967 excavations south and west of the platform exposed Herodian remains, Umayyad buildings, later-period structures, streets, gates, and ritual installations.[1][3] The work clarified the relationship between the Mount’s retaining walls and the surrounding city, including routes and monumental connections leading toward the Temple precinct.[9]

At the same time, the history demonstrates how little conventional excavation has taken place on the sacred platform itself. The limited Mandate-era investigation during mosque repairs and later archaeological observation during infrastructure maintenance have yielded evidence from several periods, but they differ methodologically from systematic excavation of undisturbed deposits.[1][7][23] The Temple Mount Sifting Project has recovered a large quantity of material from displaced soil, bringing objects from many periods into study while leaving uncertainty about their original positions and associations.[13][17]

The tunnel opening in 1996, the work at Solomon’s Stables, the Mughrabi Gate ramp excavations, and the cable-trench observations show how archaeological activity intersects with religious practice, public safety, and competing claims of authority. The recurring issue is not simply whether a project produced archaeological information, but where it took place, who authorized and supervised it, how remains were protected, and how findings are used to narrate the past.[2][11][20] These questions continue to shape the interpretation and administration of archaeology at and around the Temple Mount.

The disputes surrounding excavations reflect not only conflicting claims about archaeology but also disagreement over who may authorize work, what counts as the Mount, and which body should supervise it. The Waqf’s management role, Israel’s legal and antiquities oversight, and the involvement of Jordanian and international institutions have been described differently by the sources.[2][5] Israeli antiquities authorities and the Waqf sometimes coordinated inspections and maintenance, but sources also describe periods when informal cooperation weakened or ended.[1][2]

Accounts also distinguish scientific survey from excavation, and excavation of the platform from work at its exterior. The 19th-century surveys documented the Mount’s walls and underground features.[1][3] Large post-1967 projects excavated outside the platform; Mandate-era work investigated parts of al-Aqsa during repairs; and later infrastructure projects produced limited archaeological observations on the platform.[1][23] The Sifting Project studies displaced material from removed soil, not finds in intact stratigraphic position.[13]

Reports about the 1990s earth removal differ in quantities and time frames, while the legal descriptions of the work vary. Some sources call the work unsupervised or unauthorized, and the Waqf’s account, as reported by Ynet, described it as emergency-exit construction and denied the allegations of damage.[1][2][14] A separate advocacy account reports that soil was discarded without archaeological examination and that subsequent sifting recovered objects including Roman tiles attributed to the Herodian Temple complex and a column base; it does not provide excavation records or detailed archaeological context for those finds.[27]

Structural concerns likewise require attribution. One account reports cracks and bulges and an engineering assessment of danger, but attributes some weakening to construction of the Marwani Mosque; the cited article presents that causal explanation as its author’s account rather than an independently established finding.[16] Likewise, disputes over whether nearby tunnel or ramp work threatened Islamic structures, whether Waqf work endangered Jewish remains, and whether construction damaged antiquities remain part of the contested history rather than settled archaeological conclusions.[19][26]

Archaeological work around the Mount has also been read through competing national and religious narratives. One account describes supporters as viewing excavations as scholarly and responsible, while critics characterize them as advancing a political project that privileges a Jewish historical narrative and affects Palestinian residents.[28] These are accounts of competing interpretations, not archaeological findings. The controversy is intensified by the fact that archaeological work can document Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and other historical periods at a site whose religious significance makes both physical intervention and claims about the past highly consequential.[1][2]