Archaeologists Unearth Floor Tiles Jesus May Have Walked On

Israeli Archaeologists have restored floor tiles Jesus is believed to have walked on.

Fragments of what is believed to have been the floor on which Christ himself may have walked on have been restored by Israeli archaeologists. The floor fragments have been discovered to have been portions of the second Jewish temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The temple is no more, and the site is now a holy shrine for the Muslims, who have the Noble Sanctuary built on the spot.

Archaeologists Unearth Floor Tiles Jesus May Have Walked On[/tweetthis]

Excavations and studies have been difficult to conduct in the area due to tensions between the Muslims and Jews. As such, the site is holy for both religions, but only one has its house of worship built there. Many conflicts and fights have arisen as a result. However, when the mosque cleared out about 400 truckloads of soil from the place due to an expansion that was planned for the nearby mosque, archaeologists found the chance to excavate and conduct their studies on the site. The excavations began in 2005 and so far around 600 tiles have been unearthed. Of these, 100 are directly linked to the temple itself.

Archaeologist Gaby Barkay was very excited about the findings and the restorations. He sees them as a connection between his people and his ancestors. He explained that the floors may have been walked on by the ancestors of the Israelis as they went about their religious duties and so have a lot of sentimental value for the Jews. He says the floors tiles are also going to be very important to the Christians as they were trodded on by Christ himself. He also says that this is the very floor on which the coins may have rolled on when Jesus drove out the sellers in the temple.

Gaby also said that the findings were important because so far they had no physical parts of the temple yet. Though the temple design has been reconstructed using biblical directives and other historical figures and accounts, no actual portion of the temple has ever come into their hands until now.

The fragments were restored by Frankie Snyder, an expert in Herodian architecture. Snyder restored the floors with the help of similarities in tile design that was used by Herod at various other sites. She went on to say that this discovery was much unexpected and that it was truly touching to actually hold those pieces of history in her hands.

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