Editing Al-Aqsa Mosque (section)

===Pre-construction===
[[File:Israel-2013(2)-Aerial-Jerusalem-Temple Mount-Temple Mount (south exposure).jpg|thumb|right|The mosque is situated at the Southern end of the Haram al-Sharif]]

The mosque is located on the southern part of the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif, an enclosure expanded by King [[Herod the Great]] beginning in 20&nbsp;BCE during his reconstruction of the [[Second Temple|Second Jewish Temple]].<ref name="Hartsock2014">{{cite journal |last1=Hartsock |first1=Ralph |date=27 August 2014 |title=The temple of Jerusalem: past, present, and future |journal=Jewish Culture and History |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=199–201 |doi=10.1080/1462169X.2014.953832 |s2cid=162641910}}</ref> The mosque resides on an artificial platform that is supported by arches constructed by Herod's engineers to overcome the difficult topographic conditions resulting from the southward expansion of the enclosure into the [[Tyropoeon Valley|Tyropoeon]] and [[Kidron Valley|Kidron]] valleys.<ref name="Netzer2008">{{cite book |author=Ehud Netzer |title=Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbEFv2BBsCgC&pg=PA161 |date=October 2008 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-3612-5 |pages=161–171 |access-date=29 January 2018 |archive-date=1 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901161324/https://books.google.com/books?id=DbEFv2BBsCgC&pg=PA161 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the late [[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Herodian period|Second Temple period]], the present site of the mosque was occupied by the [[Royal Stoa (Jerusalem)|Royal Stoa]], a [[basilica]] running the southern wall of the enclosure.<ref name="Netzer2008"/> The Royal Stoa was destroyed along with the Temple during the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|siege of Jerusalem]] by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] in 70&nbsp;CE.

It was once thought that Emperor [[Justinian]]'s "[[Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos]]", {{literally|the New Church of the God-Bearer}} and commonly known as the Nea Church, dedicated to the [[Theotokos|God-bearing]] [[Virgin Mary]], consecrated in 543, was situated where al-Aqsa Mosque was later constructed. However, remains identified as those of the Nea Church were uncovered in the south part of the [[Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem)|Jewish Quarter]] in 1973.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Nahman |last=Avigad |title=A Building Inscription of the Emperor Justinian and the Nea in Jerusalem |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=27 |issue=2/3 |year=1977 |pages=145–151 |jstor=27925620}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Schick |chapter=Byzantine Jerusalem |title=Jerusalem before Islam |publisher=Archaeopress |editor1-first=Zeidan |editor1-last=Kafafi |editor2-first=Robert |editor2-last=Schick |page=175 |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4073-0141-9}}</ref>

Analysis of the wooden beams and panels removed from the mosque during renovations in the 1930s shows they are made from [[Cedrus libani|Lebanese cedar]] and [[cypress]]. Radiocarbon dating gave a large range of ages, some as old as the 9th century BCE, showing that some of the wood had previously been used in older buildings.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=N. |last1=Liphschitz |first2=G. |last2=Biger |first3=G. |last3=Bonani |first4=W. |last4=Wolfli |title=Comparative Dating Methods: Botanical Identification and <sup>14</sup>C Dating of Carved Panels and Beams from the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |year=1997 |volume=24 |issue=11 |pages=1045–1050 |doi=10.1006/jasc.1997.0183 |bibcode=1997JArSc..24.1045L}}</ref> However, reexamination of the same beams in the 2010s gave dates in the Byzantine period.<ref name=Baruch>{{cite journal |author=[[Yuval Baruch|Baruch, Yuval]] |author2=[[Ronny Reich|Reich, Ronny]] |author3=Sandhaus, Débora |title=A Decade of Archaeological Exploration on the Temple Mount |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=45 |issue=1 |year=2018 |pages=3–22 |doi=10.1080/03344355.2018.1412057 |s2cid=166015732 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37652052 |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=29 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429140820/https://www.academia.edu/37652052/A_Decade_of_Archaeological_Exploration_on_the_Temple_Mount |url-status=live}}</ref>

During his excavations in the 1930s, [[Robert Hamilton (archaeologist)|Robert Hamilton]] uncovered portions of a multicolor mosaic floor with geometric patterns, but did not publish them.<ref name=Baruch13>Baruch et al. (2018). pp. 13-14.</ref> The date of the mosaic is disputed: [[Zachi Dvira]] considers that they are from the pre-Islamic Byzantine period, while Baruch, Reich and Sandhaus favor a much later [[Umayyad]] origin on account of their similarity to a mosaic from an Umayyad palace excavated adjacent to the Temple Mount's southern wall.<ref name=Baruch13/> By comparing the photographs to Hamilton's excavation report, Di Cesare determined that they belong to the second phase of mosque construction in the Umayyad period.<ref name=DiCesare>{{cite book | author = Michelina Di Cesare | chapter = The mosaic pavement beneath the floor of al-Aqṣā mosque: A case study of late antique artistic ''koiné'' | title = A Globalised Visual Culture? | editor = Fabio Guidetti and Katharina Meinecke | publisher = Oxbow | year = 2020 | pages = 289–320 }}</ref> Moreover, the mosaic designs were common in Islamic, Jewish and Christian buildings from the 2nd to the 8th century.<ref name=DiCesare/> Di Cesare suggested that Hamilton didn't include the mosaics in his book because they were destroyed to explore beneath them.<ref name=DiCesare/>