Zachi Dvira
Zaki Zweig (alt.: Tzachi Schwieg) is an Israeli graduate student in archaeology at Bar Ilan University who is noted for having been the first person to recognize the archaeological importance of the construction debris now being sifted at the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation.[1]
In 1999 Zweig gathered a few friends and began examining the construction rubble dumped by the Islamic Waqf during the Construction of el-Marwani Mosque (1996–1999) . They discovered a high concentration of pottery sherds and surmised that the rubble might contain important artifacts. After persuading his academic advisor, Professor Gabriel Barkay that the rubble needed to be studied, Zweig raised funds and spent 5 years getting a license to conduct an archaeological dig. In 2004 he obtained the license and 75 truckloads of rubble were moved to a vacant lot on the slopes of Jerusalem's Mount Scopus, where Zweig directs a dig that sifts and examines every bucketful of dirt and rubble removed form the Temple Mount.[2]
The first coin that Zweig and his associates discovered was issued during the First Jewish–Roman War that preceded the Roman destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.. The ancient Jewish coin is stamped with the Hebrew words "Freedom of Zion."[2]
The most valuable find so far may be is a clay seal impression. The incomplete Hebrew lettering appears to show the name Ge'aliyahu, son of Immer. Immer is the name of a family of temple officials that is mentioned in Jeremiah 20:1.[2]
Zweig has found many relics from the early Christian era. This appears to disprove the idea that the site was abandoned in that period.[2]