IN PHOTOS: Excavating the great temple at Motza near Jerusalem

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One isn’t usually grateful for an overpass over one’s head. But if this accoutrement to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway hadn’t been erected, we might never have seen the huge early ninth-century B.C.E. temple at Motza, contemporary with the First Temple in Jerusalem just 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) away. And the archaeologists wouldn’t be able to peacefully and meticulously excavate in the shadow of the bridge as traffic roars by overhead.

Shua Kisilevitz of Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority and Prof. Oded Lipschits of Tel Aviv University are leading the 2021 summer dig of the temple at Motza (alternatively spelled Moza). But who exactly was worshipped there is quite the question.

On Monday, the archaeologists unearthed a rather weatherbeaten horse figurine. Another one, that is. The coarsely depicted quadruped was apparently one of many figurines that had squatted on a shelf inside the temple, which was built in exactly the same format as the First Temple (reportedly built by Solomon), according to the biblical account of what that edifice had been like.

And possibly also like Solomon’s temple, this one may have served to worship various deities, including Yahweh.

Among the other finds at the site are silos. A lot of silos. Dozens of them. They probably served to store grain. And lo, in contrast to the great temple in Jerusalem, this one survived the ages, and may survive many more thanks to the shelter provided by Route 1. Here are some of the latest discoveries at the Summer 2021 excavation of the great temple at Motza.

The altar at the Motza temple, from the early 9th century B.C.E. DAVID RAFAEL MOULISDawn light strikes the ancient temple under the highway bridge at MotzaDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISProf. Martin Prudky with a bowl fragmentDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULISDAVID RAFAEL MOULIS