The Temple Mount Sifting Project, directed by two experts on the history of ancient Israel, has allowed thousands of volunteers to comb through rubble from the site to look for artifacts. Recently, a ten-year-old participant discovered a stone seal that archaeologists date to the presumed time of Kings David and Solomon. Henry Curtis Pelgrift writes:
The seal is a tiny piece of limestone whose purpose was probably to seal documents. Photographs . . . show that it is cone-shaped, with a circular sealing surface about the size of a fingertip. Figures carved into it show one animal on top of another, possibly its prey. The seal is perforated, so that a string can be inserted and used to hang it around a person’s neck. . . .
In describing the significance of the find, [the project’s directors], Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira, said, “The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem. . . . The dating of the seal corresponds to the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon. . . . [W]hat makes this discovery particularly significant is that it originated from the Temple Mount itself.” . . .
However, some scholars . . . have warned that too much importance should not be [ascribed to] a single seal. Lenny Wolfe, a collector of antiquities, [argues] that the fact that the seal can be easily moved from place to place means that it could have been carried to Jerusalem at any point and forgotten.
Read more on Bible History Daily: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/temple-at-jerusalem/tenth-century-bc-stone-seal-the-temple-mount-sifting-project/