Jerusalem's Temple Mount has never been excavated, at least publicly.

However, an illegal construction project 20 years ago led to discoveries about its ancient past.

In 1999, the Islamic group responsible for the Temple Mount began construction on a large underground mosque. They broke a law prohibiting unauthorized construction, and during the project dumped tons of debris into the Kidron Valley.

Israeli archaeologists began sifting through the debris in 2005 in hopes of finding artifacts that point back to the Jewish temple that once stood in Jerusalem.

Over the years, The Temple Mount Sifting Project has uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts.

"The Temple Mount Sifting Project is an archaeological adventure whose purpose is to find the empirical proof of what was on the Temple Mount thousands of years ago," Shlomo Zwickler from American Friends of Beit Orot told CBN News.

Throughout its history, more than a quarter of a million volunteers have worked on the sifting project making it the largest archaeological project in history.

Since its beginning, the project has uncovered enormous archaeological evidence.

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