In 1999, the Muslim Wakf authority controlling the Islamic structures atop the Temple Mount began illegally excavating large amounts of fill from the former site of the Royal Stoa in order to construct a new access to the newly established (or, as the Waqf would put it, restored and expanded) Marwani Mosque. Material dug from the site was dumped in the Kidron Valley, so that all the important information which could have been acquired through proper excavation of the material in its archaeological context has been lost forever. Trying to save what could still be saved, an operation to sift through the debris was started by Zachi Zweig and Gabriel Barkay. The ongoing Temple Mount Sifting Project has resulted in the recovery of many architectural fragments from the Second Temple buildings as well as remnants from all other historical periods since the First Temple Period.