Shimon Gibson, a co-director of the dig on Mount Zion, has launched a fund-raising drive for work on the finds from excavations conducted in the area in the 1970’s.
More than thirty years ago major archaeological excavations were conducted on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, with the discovery of the remains of King Herod’s palace, well preserved first-century houses, and rich artefacts. But the results of this work were never fully published. The archaeologist Shimon Gibson because of his professional interest in ancient Jerusalem, decided a decade or so ago to take on the responsibility of publishing these excavations. It was only a year ago that the finds, plans and field notes that had been presumed to be lost were unexpectedly discovered. This presented him with the daunting task of having to deal with enormous quantities of material, much of it in a very bad state of preservation owing to the substandard storage conditions they had been kept in. He has been battling this past year to raise funds for work on these amazing artefacts and this has now led him to publish an appeal for funding on the internet. Have a look at the site.
HT: Alexander Schick