The ruins being currently reconstructed are from the Omayyad period. According to Engcarta, the Omayyads (661-750 C.E.), governed from Damascus.* These ruins are to the south of the Temple Mount and the Al Aqsa Mosque (which is built on the Temple Mount).
The excavation of this area occured between 1967 and 1979, a period of 12 years. There was trepidation in the local Muslim communty when the excavations began. The Chief Rabbinate also had trepidations, lets the Ark be found. Of course since the excavation was outside the retaining walls of the Temple Mount, thier was no risk of the Ark being found. The opposition of the local Jerusalem Muslim authorities "gradually dissipated" because "one of the earliest dicoveries of the excavation was an Omayyad palace built in the seventh or eight century A.D. by Moslem rulers of Jerusalem." Muslim notables of Jerusalem were invited to view the excavations. "They saw the care taken to preserve thes Islamic walls, which still stood as a glorious monument to a vergorous and largely unknown period of Jerusalem's history under Moslem rule. This visit dispelled many of the fears the Moslem notables had previously expressed. Thereafter they regularly toured the excavations and even allowed the archeologists to explore and study otherwise inaccessible, Moslem-controlled areas under the Temple Mount. The arecheologists for their part scrupulously adhered to the Moslem prohibition against excavating under the Temple Mount."#
It was the Ommayyad period ruins which the archeologists decided to preserve and reconstruct. No excavation goes on there now, only reconstruction and preservation of ruins from the Ommayyad period.
Still those outside of Jerusalem filed charges with UNESCO in 1968 and spread rumors "that the excavations were undermining the Al Aqsa Mosque on top of the Temple Mount, that the excavations were destroying Islamic cultural property..." When someone from UNESCO (Raymound Lemaire from Belgium) finnally came to view the site in 1974, "his report concluded that there was no danger to the Al Aqsa Mosque." He furthermore said in his report that "the excavations" were "being carried out by a perfectly well-qualified team of experts of various kinds, who are extremely attentive to all aspects and to all the periods of which remains have been found on the site. The same care is expended on the preservation of remains of the Ommaid [Omayyad] palaces as on those of the Herodian period."@
They also found a stair case that lead up to the 2 main entrances used by pilgrims in the days of the Herodian Second Temple. "Interestingly enough, excavation here [ie, right next to the Southern Wall where the stairs are located] was possible only because of the archaeologists' excellent relationships with the local Moslem leadership and their understanding cooperation. The land in this area belongs to the waqf, the Moslem religious trust. Ultimately, the archeologists obtained consent to excavate both from the tenants to whom the waqf had lease the land, and from the waqf itself." The head archeologist said that during the excavation, all structual weak points that they found while uncovering the Southern Wall or the entry area of the Mosque that justs out beyond the wall, were butressed and strengthened. These weekpoints had gone unnoticed previously because of the earth covering both those areas and the ruins.**
It is possible that the tunnel running next to the Western Wall, parallel to the Temple Mount, is being confused with the excavation in the 1970's in front of the Southern Wall, where the Ommayid ruins are being reconstructed. There was a big controversy about that tunnel running parallel to the Temple Mount, some of which may be learned about from CNN Background on the Tunnel. You may also view a map of that tunnel copied from CNN: Tunnel Map. I was actually in that tunnel with a group of American educators. In no place does it go through the Wall of the Temple Mount or under any Mosque. The area of the tunnel that is not part of the waterway, is reinforced with steel so that structures above it in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, are not in danger in any way.
* "Middle East," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
# Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p4.
@ Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p5.
** Archeology and the Bible: The Best of BAR", Volume 2, ed Shanks and Cole, p9-10
