Archive from April, 2014
Apr 23, 2014 - History of Masonry    No Comments

Second Temple period chisel found near Kotel in Jerusalem

ChiselA 2,000 year-old chisel found last year by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) may have been used during Second Temple period to construct Western Wall.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said that while the chisel was unearthed last year, it is waiting for research on it to be completed before issuing an official announcement on the discovery.

Archaeologist Eli Shukrun, who heads the dig at the bottom of the Temple Mount near the Western Wall, stated that the discovery was very exciting. “It is a 15 CM long ancient chisel. For the first time, after 2,000 years, we are in the possession of a work tool used by the builders who built the Kotel, the Western Wall.”

“I have no doubt that it belongs to the time the Wall was built,” Shukron said. “We found it at the base of the Western Wall, about six meters below the main street of Jerusalem in the era of the Second Temple. The coins we found in the area, and ceramics too, indicate that it was at the time the Western Wall was built.”

“The chisel itself was found inside rubble of stone chips that fell from the stonemasons working on the rocks comprising the Western Wall,” he added.

Additional findings by the same team of archeologists include cooking utensils, weapons from the Roman empire, and a golden bell that could have been used by priests in the temple.

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Celebrate George Washington’s Inauguration … 225 years later

georgewashingtonThe National Parks Traveler website has put up a post about the upcoming celebrations of Brother George Washington’s inauguration.

From the post:

It was 225 years ago this April 30 that George Washington was inaugurated as the country’s first president. You can mark that occasion when the National Park Service celebrates it at Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City.

It was on April 30, 1789, at 26 Wall Street in New York City that George Washington became the first president of the newly created United States of America. The Park Service is celebrating that event with a wide range of activities appropriate for different ages and interests. All activities are designed to bring history to life and offer a glimpse of the society and pageantry that surrounded the first inauguration. Read more »