Dear Friends,
You are invited to participate as a Volunteer =93Team Member,=94 or to
become a Contributor/Sponsor, or both, in the excavation of one of the
most exciting sites in Jerusalem today. The area chosen for
archaeological study is situated close to a number of im****tant places
in the history of the city, namely the Praetorium where Jesus was
tried before Pontius Pilate, and the House of Caiaphas and the other
priestly families in the Upper City of Jerusalem in the first century
CE. In the Byzantine period, the area was situated at the southern end
of the Cardo Maximus, which was a grand columned street and in its
vicinity Justinian (mid 6th century) built a very large church. The
crest of Mount Zion was a focus for the building of houses in the
Early Islamic Period. The Crusaders and the Ayyubids built their
fortifications across the crest of the hill, and in the early 13th
century, the local Sultan destroyed the gate-tower, which was located
in the area of our excavation.
Help us in unearthing the exiting and well- preserved remains at this
site. Previous excavations, which were undertaken here in 1978, really
just "scratched the surface". There are all sorts of things to be
excavated, including houses that were destroyed in the year 70 CE by
Titus and the Roman legions. Surprisingly, some of the vaulted
ceilings of these houses are still intact! Further up the hill, digs
revealed wall paintings with floral designs showing buildings and
birds, which would not have been different from those seen at
Pompeii.
Project Staff and Consultants include: Dr. ****mon Gibson, Dr. James
Tabor, Egon Lass, Yoav Farhi, Ram Bouchnik and Mareike Grosser.
Your presence and/or sup****t on this dig is of utmost im****tance, and
your contribution will be timeless. For more information on the dig,
go to www.digmountzion.com . To request a sponsor****p form, please
send an e-mail to me at: ptyler@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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