Temple Mount Sifting Project

Is it harder to take Egypt out of the Israelites than the Israelites out of Egypt? A fascinating archaeological discovery from the Temple Mount!

As Passover approaches, many discuss the verse "And the Lord spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 6:13). It is often said that sometimes it's harder to take Egypt out of the people of Israel than to take the people of Israel out of Egypt. Usually, this refers to spiritual enslavement - but a brand new discovery uncovered just this week proves that it was just as hard to get "Egyptian" culture out of Judah!

So, what did we find?
Cynics might say Israeli archaeologists always "pull out" discoveries right before the holidays (just like last summer when we found a First Temple destruction clay sealing right before Tisha B'Av). But it turns out reality beats any timing!

This past Sunday, Arbel Monnickendam and his family came to sift soil from the Temple Mount (don't worry, we have a protected space), and they found a fragment of a clay sealings from the First Temple period. The sealing features distinct Egyptian symbols, including a winged sun (a symbol of rule under divine protection) and parts of a cartouche (an oval frame enclosing Egyptian names).
We can't publish more details or a closeup photo just yet, as the artifact requires proper scientific research and publication before being presented to the wider public. But because of the amazing timing right before Passover night, we just had to share our excitement with you!

The Bigger Picture
This finding joins a series of other discoveries from the Sifting Project, Jerusalem, and Judah from the same period, all pointing to a widespread use of Egyptian characteristics in the Judah’s administrative system of the First Temple era. We find the use of Hieratic (Egyptian) numerals, weights and measures, glyptic symbols, and even Egyptian names on seals. We even see this in the Bible itself, especially among priests and Levites who carry Egyptian names (such as Hophni, Phinehas, and Pashhur).

The roots of this Egyptian influence in Judean administration likely go back to the Late Bronze Age when Egypt (in 18th-20th dynasties) ruled Canaan, which required establishing a massive administrative apparatus.

What does this actually mean?
Does using symbols from Egyptian deity worship reflect the adoption of Egyptian religion among the people of Judah? Or did these symbols undergo a "secularization" process, becoming universal administrative icons? (Similar to our secular month names today, like March or July, which originate from Roman gods and rulers).
Another fascinating question: what was the attitude of Judeans during the First Temple period toward Egyptian culture, given the Exodus tradition? As we know, Judah had a complex, rollercoaster relationship with Egypt: from King Solomon's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter and extensive trade relations, through Shishak's invasion and the looting of the Temple, King Hezekiah relying on Egypt against Assyrian invasion, the fatal clash with Pharaoh Necho during Josiah's reign, and finally, Egyptian military assistance during the Babylonian siege.

We'll leave the complex answers to the research, but we definitely wanted to share this new layer of data on Israel-Egypt relations revealed just days before Passover.

Happy Passover! May we merit freedom from all enslavements -mental and material - whether "Egyptian" or otherwise. We hold a deep hope for a swift end to the war, by removing all threats from those seeking to destroy the people of Israel

I am excited to share that I will be visiting Texas for a few days in late April! While I am there, I am setting aside my evenings to connect with local communities, universities, and organizations.

I am currently open to invitations to give guest lectures and presentations during my visit, and I would love the opportunity to share our research and discoveries with your community.

I am available to speak on a variety of topics, including:

The Temple Mount Sifting Project: Our story, methodology, unique challenges, and the most significant finds we've recovered from the soil of the Temple Mount.

Biblical Archaeology: Bridging the gap between text and material culture in ancient Israel.

Ancient Jerusalem: The history and archaeology of the city, with a special focus on the First and Second Temple periods.

If your congregation, university, or local community group is interested in hosting a lecture, or if you would like more details, please reach out via email at: [email protected].

Looking forward to seeing some of you in the Lone Star State!

Zachi Dvira
Director, Temple Mount Sifting Project

FROM THE HEART OF JERUSALEM TO THE PEOPLE OF IRAN: A SASSANID TREASURE IN THE SOIL OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT
(Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Gabriel Barkay (1944–2026) z”l, and the brave citizens of Iran.)

The early 7th century in Jerusalem was a time of seismic shifts. For nearly 300 years, the city had been an important jewel in the crown of the Christian Byzantine Empire, but in 614 CE, the “Last Great War of Antiquity” brought the Sassanid Persians to the gates. Jewish soldiers provided critical intelligence and logistical support to the Persians who were unfamiliar with the rugged topography of Judea and the urban layout of Byzantine Jerusalem. Following a brutal 21-day siege, the city fell to the forces of Khosrow II and his general, Shahrbaraz, marking a rare 14-year window of Persian rule that would fundamentally alter the city’s destiny before the Byzantine recapture in 628 CE. This brief but intense “Sassanian interlude” saw the city shift from a closed Byzantine center to a place of potential national revival for the local Jewish population, who were initially granted administrative roles and freedom of worship under the new imperial order.

While we often speak of the “Persian Period” in Jerusalem in the context of the mid-6th to mid-4th centuries BCE, from the return from the Babylonian exile under Cyrus, and the reconstruction of the city under Ezra and Nehemiah until the toppling of the Persian Achaemenid empire by Alexander the Great, it is exceptionally rare to find artifacts from Jerusalem’s “Second Persian Period,” the brief 14-year window of Sassanid rule between 614 and 628 CE. A few dramatic discoveries from this period include the Ophel menorah medallion, likely intended as an ornament for a Torah scroll, and the “House of Menorot”, where a Christian cross was plastered over to reclaim the space. We also have the tragic evidence of the conquest’s violence found in the Byzantine mass graves at Mamilla, a somber reminder of the 614 CE siege.

In the quiet hum of the Temple Mount Sifting Project lab, an artifact’s true identity often rests on a single, sharp-eyed observation. Such was the case with a small, dark object that had been initially set aside as a “broken bead.” Our glass expert, Dorit Gutreich, was sorting through the beads when she paused over this particular piece. “I realized it wasn’t broken but carved,” Dorit recounts. “I hesitantly asked other people at the lab if it’s true or am I imagining things; then I started looking online for similar stone seals, and learned it is from the Sassanian period.”

Upon close examination, the technical sophistication of the piece is evident, marking it as a product of a high-level imperial workshop. Expert analysis by geologist Dov Levitte has identified the material as a type of chalcedony, either green Jasper or heliotrope. The stone’s color is dark green with two light-brown spots and takes the form of an intact, low dome (hemispheroid) perforated near its flat, oval base. The technical ex*****on of the piece is highly characteristic of ancient glyptics; the animal’s torso is defined by deep, rhythmic “hatched” incisions created with a combination of wide-round drills and thin drills. This hatched ribbing is a clear diagnostic feature of Sassanid gem-cutting traditions.

The specific identity of the animal, however, has sparked a fascinating debate. Shua Amorai-Stark identified the motif as a zebu bull (the back-humped bull), a reclining bovine facing left. Beyond the general silhouette, she points to the specific “back-humped” posture and the use of wide round drills to emphasize the heavy chest and shoulders, which are diagnostic hallmarks for bovines in Sassanian glyptic art. The zebu was a sacred animal representing the Zoroastrian deity Vohu Manah and the “primeval bull,” serving as a symbol of divine protection and cosmic order. This religious significance made it a prominent motif on royal seals and luxury silverwork, where it functioned as a talismanic emblem of the king’s authority and celestial favor. However, seals with this symbol were also used by people of different professions who possessed deep faith.

Conversely, the author of this post (Y. Z.) suggests the animal is a stag, arguing that the way the lines fan out perfectly captures the unique “palmate” or shovel-like antlers of the species. This fanned antler structure is a key feature in other professionally identified Sassanian deer seals, such as the stag motif dome seal at the Smithsonian, the hematite couchant stag at the British Museum, and the carnelian Sasanian stag seal in the USC Archaeological Research Collection. This motif is also seen in grander Sassanid works like the royal hunt reliefs at Taq-e Bostan or the exquisite silver hunting plates of the British Museum. While the zebu is a more common administrative seal, depictions of stags on Sassanian gems do exist, often reserved for higher-status individuals who wished to evoke the Khvarenah, or divine glory, associated with the noble hunt.

This connection to the stag is particularly poignant when one considers the modern saga of the Persian fallow deer (Yachmur). Having gone extinct in the wild in Israel by the 1920s, the species was thought lost until a small population was discovered in Iran in the 1950s. Their return to Israel was a cinematic thriller; in late 1978, amidst the chaos of the Iranian Revolution, a high-stakes mission between the Israeli Nature Reserves Authority and the Iranian Game and Fish Department smuggled four deer onto the very last commercial flight from Tehran to Tel Aviv. This operation, born from a friendship between Avraham Yoffe and Prince Abdorreza Pahlavi, allowed the Yachmur to flourish once again in the Jerusalem hills. Just as those deer traveled from the Persian heartland to restore a lost piece of Israel’s ecology, this Sassanian seal traveled here centuries ago to mark a shared history.

The discovery of this Sasanian seal is made even more poignant by the recent passing of Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the co-founder of the Temple Mount Sifting Project and a titan of Jerusalem’s archaeology. Gaby was a rare bridge between the archaeological worlds of Israel and Iran; between 1969 and 1971, he participated in the French excavations at Susa (Shushan) under the leadership of Jean Perrot, working alongside Myriam Rosen-Ayalon to uncover the monumental Palace of Darius. It is a profound symbolic coincidence that Gaby was laid to rest in the “Yekirei Yerushalayim” (worthy of Jerusalem) section of Har HaMenuchot cemetery just steps away from Meir Ezri, Israel’s first ambassador to Iran (1968-1973), who facilitated the very era of cooperation that allowed Gaby to walk the ruins of the Persian heartland. This seal, unearthed from the soil of the Temple Mount, stands as a final tribute to Gaby’s legacy, a reminder that the ancient bridges of history and scholarship remain far more enduring than the walls of modern politics.

Unearthed directly from the ancient soil of the Temple Mount, this seal stands as a message of profound solidarity with the Iranian people who are today bravely fighting against an oppressive regime. It is a poignant irony that while researching this find, we were unable to access many Iranian archaeological websites due to the current internet blackouts imposed by their government. From the heart of Jerusalem, the discovery of this Persian treasure serves as a powerful reminder that our histories are not defined just by the current modern conflict, but also by periods of deep and even harmonious interconnection. By identifying and honoring this Sassanid treasure found in the very soil of the Temple Mount, we celebrate a future where the “divine glory” of freedom returns to the Iranian people, and the ancient bridges between our cultures are restored once more.

See links to refferences in original post on our website:
https://tmsifting.org/en/2026/02/19/from-the-heart-of-jerusalem-to-the-people-of-iran-a-sassanid-treasure-in-the-soil-of-the-temple-mount/

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/world/middleeast/gabriel-barkay-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FFA.glly.UH97HKjy86Fs&smid=url-share&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPYrtdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEex2uFTEPnDyDsguQV5MJ8viHhzp5c0UjR0WY7NDeD5sQ8-FXB1AeR-Tfgd9M_aem_i9p-sb8J8RntdJXYBt4CiQ

Gabriel Barkay, 81, Dies; His Discoveries Revised Biblical History (Gift Article) One of Israel’s leading archaeologists, he found evidence that the writing of the Old Testament likely began much earlier than historians had thought.

Stone of the Siege: 10th of Tevet and the Defense of the Temple Mount

On this 10th of Tevet, a day marking the onset of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, we reflect on the transition of the Temple Mount from a sacred center to a besieged stronghold. A recent discovery from the Temple Mount Sifting Project, a small, meticulously rounded stone recovered by one of our frequent visitors, 12 year old Noam Spivak, provides a tangible entry point into the mechanics of warfare in antiquity.

Measuring 3 cm in diameter and weighing 20.38 grams, the artifact is a bit smaller than the "standard" 4–7 cm spherical flint and limestone projectiles frequently recovered from major destruction layers like those at Lachish. However, its morphology suggests it may have functioned as specialized sling ammunition. In ballistics, such lighter stones prioritize launch velocity and range over the sheer crushing force of heavier siege stones. In the hands of a trained slinger, a 20g projectile could achieve a release velocity exceeding 160 km/h (100 mph). While larger projectiles were capable of generating approximately 38 Joules of kinetic energy, sufficient for lethal blunt-force trauma, these lighter stones were likely utilized for high-velocity precision fire.

This slingstone joins a handful of other flint and limestone spherical stones found in the Sifting Project, usually larger in diameter than this one. The presence of such a projectile on the Temple Mount underscores the tactical nature of the Babylonian siege (or perhaps the Assyrian siege 115 years earlier). The sling was equally vital for the aggressor. As Babylonian forces advanced on the 10th of Tevet, their slingers would have used high-velocity stones like this to provide suppressive fire, clearing the Judean defenders from the parapets and gate towers so that siege ramps could be constructed.

The sling is often colloquially relegated to the status of a "shepherd’s weapon," yet the archaeological and textual records reveal a highly organized military application. The biblical account in Judges 20:16 describes an elite unit of 700 Benjamite slingers capable of slinging a stone at a large distance without missing, while 2 Chronicles 26:14 notes that King Uzziah’s state logistics specifically included the preparation of "stones for slinging" for the national armory.
Archaeologically, these projectiles are frequently misclassified in domestic contexts as hammerstones or weights. It is only through contextual analysis, identifying concentrations in defensive sectors or battle debris, that their martial function and date become clear. Due to this difficulty, and the mixed context of the finds sifted from the Temple Mount’s soil, we can only raise the possibility of this being a slingstone used in a siege of Jerusalem.

Whether launched by a Judean defender or a Assyrian, Babylonian or Roman attacker, Noam Spivak’s find bridges the gap between historical narratives and the material reality of the conflict that defined Jerusalem’s history. And on this special day, it may stand as a silent witness to the moment 2,600 years ago when the peaceful courtyards of the Temple Mount were first breached by the sounds and stones of war.