Tiny Gold Ring Discovered During Archeological Excavation in Israel
Could a tiny gold ring discovered in the City of David have meant much more to its owner than simply being a beautiful piece of jewelry?
A tiny gold ring set with a red stone (most likely garnet) believed to have belonged to a young girl, was discovered during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University at the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David.
The ring, just 1.2 cm in diameter, was found beneath the floor of a large Hellenistic-period building, alongside three bronze earrings. Another gold ring and other gold jewelry were also discovered in and around the building, dating to the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE.
The fact that these valuable, intact pieces of jewelry were found beneath the floors, in different locations throughout the building, raised a question: Why had they been placed there?
A new study by Dr. Marion Zindel, Efrat Botzer, Riki Zlot-Har-Tov, Prof. Yuval Gadot, and Dr. Yiftah Shalev, published in Issue 121 of the scientific journal Atikot, examined the circumstances surrounding the burial of the jewelry.
The study suggests that the jewelry was not buried together, but found at different points throughout the building, likely as the result of several separate acts of deposition. According to the researchers, the repetition of the same practice strengthens the possibility that this was a custom rather than a one-time event.
The way the jewelry was distributed also does not resemble a hoard hidden in a time of danger. In a hoard, we would expect to find a concentration of valuables intended to be retrieved later. Here, however, a single piece or a small number of pieces of jewelry were found beneath the floors in different locations.
The jewelry was discovered in a large, high-quality residential building that the researchers attribute to a wealthy family, likely part of Jerusalem’s elite. The gold jewelry and the valuable materials from which it was made point to the residents’ high economic status.
Fascinating discovery!
Photo: Eliyahu Yanai, Reut Wilf and Asaf Perry from the City of David, Emil Aljem and Clara Amit from the Israel Antiquities Authority
