Walkway Near Kotel - 2010 GPR Study

For thousands of years, from the Upper City, one could look east onto the area where the Temple once stood. Now the remains of the Western Wall, or Kotel, define an area of religious devotion. This summer in 2010 we did a GPR study on the walkway into the building complex which looks directly onto the Kotel, near the security parking area. Excavations parallel to this area have been dated to Second Temple times. Click here for Archaeology Magazine article. Click here for Kotel Plaza excavation report. Click here for Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reference.

In June 2010, led by Dr. Jessie Pincus of Texas A&M, our survey team acquired GPR data in a high resolution survey across a 25 meter incline making a 2 x 25 meter cube. The line of the eastern collonaded street of Jerusalem at a depth of about 6 meters can be seen as an extension of what has been uncovered in the Kotel Plaza excavations to the north. This is the Upper City Second Temple Period. Post-processing analysis will reveal a more complete explanation of the anomalies that can be seen, which will be published elsewhere.

First Look GPR View of Walkway Near Kotel

As announced by Israel National News on October 23, 2009, "Israel is planning a major archaeological dig under the Western Wall (Kotel) plaza, opposite the Temple Mount ... The excavations will create an archaeological park directly underneath the area where worshippers currently stand while praying at the Kotel. The current prayer area will remain open, supported by pillars, while a new area will be added underneath, at the level at which worshippers at the ancient Temple stood in the past."

Archaeological Park planned near Western Wall Plaza (Kotel)
Image courtesy of Antiquities Authority - Click for Closeup

All photos and GPR images shown here are not to be reproduced without permission
Copyright © 2010 Dr. Jessie A. Pincus and Mnemotrix Systems, Inc.
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