Temple Mount Sifting Project: Jerusalem, Israel

Don’t miss the opportunity to take part in some real archaeological work in the holy city of Jerusalem! Get your hands dirty sifting for real treasures from the First and Second Temple periods.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is a unique initiative accessible to the public. In the 1990s, heaps of soil with unimaginable archaeological artifacts were illegally dug up and removed from the Temple Mount compound. This soil collection is now providing rare insight into the archaeology of the Temple Mount, which has never before been accessible to the public. The project provides anyone the one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sift through and discover ancient artifacts and connect to Jerusalem’s extensive heritage. More than 200,000 people from around the world have already partaken, making this the most publicly engaged archaeological project in the world.

This is an ongoing project open to visitors daily from 8:00-16:00, with the last entry at 14:00 for the 2-hour program. The site is located at the Ma’suot Lookout, at the meeting point of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives. Booking in advance on the project’s website is recommended.