Gabriel (“Gabby”) Barkay is one of Israel’s most famous archeologists. One of Barkay's best-known discoveries was made in 1979. In an archaeological excavation he conducted at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem he discovered two silver Iron Age amulets inscribed in ancient Hebrew, one of them containing the priestly blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26. This is the oldest surviving quotation from the Hebrew Bible, dating to around 600 B.C.E., just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Barkay is an expert on ancient Jewish tomb construction and burial customs. Among the many tombs he has excavated were the Iron Age tombs on the grounds of the École Biblique in Jerusalem. In 2005, together with Zachi Zweig, Barkay established the Temple Mount Sifting Project dedicated to recovering archaeological artifacts from 400 truckloads of earth removed from the Temple Mount by the Moslem Waqf and the Israeli Islamic Movement between 1996 and 2001. One of the amazing finds discovered during the sifting was a First Temple-period bulla, a clay seal, with a Hebrew inscription mentioning the priestly name Immer (see Jer. 20:1). Another seal had the Hebrew words “Gibeon, for the king.” In 1996 Barkay received the Jerusalem Prize for his life’s work.