For tens of millions of years the Tethys Ocean covered the reef and its neighbors. “Cretaceous” – this is how we use to name this era. Millions of generations of dinosaurs roamed the distances somewhere, and even more generations of old crabs and shellfish were born, lived and died in the reef. Millions of grandfathers and grandchildren, which upon their death – sank slowly downwards, adding their skeleton’s weight to the huge cemetery, gradually growing on the reef’s seabed. On its neighbors as well. “Sedimentary rocks” – this is how we use to call this huge cemetery nowadays.

And eras have come and gone. The continents moved slowly on top of the underneath magma. The sea moved from one place to another, in a pace that was undetectable by the slowest of the animals. The reef and its neighbors was already noticing the sunlight through the waves. It took only three million more years and they were already small islands. Shellfish cemeteries standing out of the waves. And still the grandchildren of the buried ones continued to live and die under the waves all around the islands.

And in an unimportant point of time, tens of millions of years later, the whole area has been dry for a while. The reef with its skeletons’ remains – still bulged a little. The “Temple Mount” or “Haram al-Sharif” we use to name it. One collection of the remains of a specific shellfish group, which lived and died for hundreds of thousands of years – nothing special about it – we use to call it the “Foundation Stone”. Big chunks of skeletons from this cemetery were moved from one place to another by the descendants of the descendants of the little furry animals which lived alongside those dinosaurs. We now have names for them, such as the “Wailing Wall”, “Al-Aqsa Mosque”, “The Jewish Temple”, “The Knesset”.

And eras will come and go. The continents will continue to move slowly on top of the underneath magma. Ancient cemeteries will be covered and new ones will be exposed. Islands will show up and mountains will sink. Species will vanish and others will develop. Some of the descendants of the little furry animals name this “The Time of the Messiah”.