


Their initiative became TMSP with the goal of rescuing ancient artifacts and conducting research to enhance our understanding of the archaeology and history of the Temple Mount. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira retrieved the matter from the dump, and in 2004 started sifting through it. This illegal bulldozing destroyed innumerable artifacts which were dumped as garbage in the nearby Kidron Valley.Īrchaeologists Dr. The sifting project, under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, began in 1999 after the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement conducted illegal renovations on the Temple Mount and disposed some 9,000 tons of dirt mixed with invaluable archaeological artifacts. Murex trunculus, a rock snail shell, believed to have been used in the process of making techelet, the blue dye for tzitzit (fringes) on prayer shawls, was recently discovered by the Singer family from Jerusalem, who participated in the Temple Mount Sifting Project (TMSP).
