History of Masonry 
No Comments Second Temple period chisel found near Kotel in Jerusalem
A 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.