The ruins being currently reconstructed are from the Omayyad period.According to Engcarta, the Omayyads (661-750 C.E.), governed from Damascus.* These ruins are to the south of the Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa Mosque (which is built onthe Temple Mount).
View the Temple Mount with Al Aqsa and ruins fromthe south east with guiding notation on picture
View the Al Aqsa Mosque and the ruins from the south westwith guiding notation on picture
View a map of the southern portion of the Temple Mount
The excavation of this area occured between 1967 and 1979, a period of 12 years. There was trepidation in the local Muslim communty when the excavationsbegan. The Chief Rabbinate also had trepidations, lets the Ark be found. Of coursesince the excavation was outside the retaining walls of the Temple Mount, thier wasno risk of the Ark being found. The opposition of the local Jerusalem Muslim authorities "gradually dissipated" because "one of the earliest dicoveriesof the excavation was an Omayyad palace built in the seventh or eight century A.D.by Moslem rulers of Jerusalem." Muslim notables of Jerusalem were invited to viewthe excavations. "They saw the care taken to preserve thes Islamic walls, which still stood as a glorious monument to a vergorous and largely unknown period of Jerusalem'shistory under Moslem rule. This visit dispelled many of the fears the Moslem notables hadpreviously expressed. Thereafter they regularly toured the excavations and even allowed the archeologists to explore and study otherwise inaccessible, Moslem-controlled areas under the Temple Mount. The arecheologists for theirpart scrupulously adhered to the Moslem prohibition against excavating underthe Temple Mount."#
It was the Ommayyad period ruins which the archeologists decided to preserve andreconstruct. No excavation goes on there now, only reconstruction and preservationof ruins from the Ommayyad period.
Still those outside of Jerusalem filed charges with UNESCO in 1968 and spread rumors"that the excavations were undermining the Al Aqsa Mosque on top of the Temple Mount, that the excavations were destroying Islamic cultural property..." When someone from UNESCO(Raymound Lemaire from Belgium) finnally came to view the site in 1974, "hisreport concluded that there was no danger to the Al Aqsa Mosque." He furthermore saidin his report that "the excavations" were "being carried out by a perfectly well-qualified team of experts of various kinds, who are extremely attentiveto all aspects and to all the periods of which remains have been found on the site.The same care is expended on the preservation of remains of the Ommaid [Omayyad]palaces as on those of the Herodian period."@
They also found a stair case that lead up to the 2 main entrances used by pilgrimsin the days of the Herodian Second Temple. "Interestingly enough, excavation here [ie, right next to the Southern Wall where the stairs are located] was possibleonly because of the archaeologists' excellent relationships with the local Moslemleadership and their understanding cooperation. The land in this area belongs tothe waqf, the Moslem religious trust. Ultimately, the archeologistsobtained consent to excavate both from the tenants to whom the waqf had lease the land, and from the waqf itself." The head archeologist said that during the excavation, all structual weak points that they found while uncovering the Southern Wall or the entry area of the Mosque that justs out beyond the wall, were butressedand strengthened. These weekpoints had gone unnoticed previously because of the earthcovering both those areas and the ruins.**
It is possible that the tunnel running next to the Western Wall, parallel to the Temple Mount, is being confused with the excavation in the 1970's in front of the Southern Wall, where the Ommayid ruins are being reconstructed. There was a bigcontroversy about that tunnel running parallel to the Temple Mount, some of whichmay be learned about from CNN Background on the Tunnel. You may also view a map of that tunnel I was actually in thattunnel with a group of American educators. In no place does it go through theWall of the Temple Mount or under any Mosque. The area of the tunnel that is notpart of the waterway, is reinforced with steel so that structures above itin the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, are not in danger in any way.
* "Middle East," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
# Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p4.
@ Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p5.
** Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p9-10
