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The southern Temple Mount, excavated under the direction of Benjamin Mazar. Although Mazar’s field was historical geography, Trude Dothan describes him “as the one who really taught us archaeology. He would not go and dig himself, but he would show the team what to look for.”

Despite his unquestioned scholarship and his organizational abilities, Mazar’s dig along the southern wall of the Temple Mount quickly ran into difficulties. The work was initially opposed by both Jewish and Muslim religious authorities; as work proceeded, the dig’s methodology came under criticism from Israeli and American archaeologists. Nor has the book been closed on this excavation: the final report has yet to be written.