Volume Preface
There is a large piece of rock in Jerusalem which is called the Foundation Stone.
Technically, it is karsted limestone from the Upper Turonian Stage, Late Cretaceous.
It has been cut free from its surrounding rock and shaped to a roughly flat surface.
The Foundation Stone sits atop Mount Moriah. The ground around the Foundation Stone was raised with retaining walls, filled, and the top paved with stones to
create the Temple Mount. It is called the Temple Mount because the Jewish Temples
sat there. Those temples may in fact have had their altars sitting upon the Foundation
Stone. I am Jewish and our religious buildings around the world all are arranged so
that the congregations face that piece of rock. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, also
called the Wailing Wall and Wall of Lamentations, is a part of the retaining walls that
were used to create the Temple Mount. Muslims believe that Mohamed rose to
heaven from that rock and the gold domed structure called “the Dome of the Rock” is
an Islamic shrine which protects the Foundation Stone. The crusaders removed
fragments of the Foundation Stone as souvenirs. As you may have guessed, the
Foundation Stone possibly is the most contested piece of territory on earth, because
the religions whose adherents have struggled to control Jerusalem often were
fighting for possession of that rock.
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