Archaeologists have discovered an “extremely rare and unusual” ancient stone amulet in Jerusalem that could change our understanding of reading and writing in antiquity.
“The seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem,” Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom, directors of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said in a statement, Fox News reported.
The artifact was found in the Davidson Archaeological Garden during a joint excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation, the Times Of Israel reported. Estimated to be around 2,700 years old, the item is one of the oldest finds since excavations began in the country.
The trinket was notably inscribed with the paleo-Hebrew phrase, “Le Yehoʼezer ben Hoshʼayahu,” meaning “For Yeho’ezer son of Hosh’ayahu” — referring to two prominent men who may have lived between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE. The words were in mirror writing — the reverse of the language’s natural direction — so the seal could be used to press words into wax.
Meanwhile, a small hole in the stone indicates that it could be threaded with a string or chain.
From this, experts deduced that the trinket belonged to a high-ranking official in the Kingdom of Judah who used the seal to sign documents and also wore it as a protective talisman around their neck.
Perhaps most significant was a depiction of a winged figure whose presence and design is seemingly influenced by the Assyrians who ruled Judah at the time.
“This is an extremely rare and unusual discovery,” exclaimed IAA archaeologist and Assyriologist Dr. Filip Vukosavovic. “This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’ – a protective magical figure – has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology.”
He added, “Figures of winged demons are known in the Neo-Assyrian art of the 9th-7th Centuries BCE, and they were considered a kind of protective demon.”
In this case, the seal may have been used to symbolize the owner’s authority.
As for the wearer’s identity, the juxtaposition of the ornate figure and somewhat haphazard inscription appears to suggest that the letters were added later.
Archaeologists hypothesized that the pendant was initially owned by “a man named Hoshʼayahu” — hence the engraving — who was the aforementioned official “in the Kingdom of Judah’s administration,” the IAA wrote.
When he died, his son Yeho’ezer inherited the seal, and etched both his name and his father’s onto the seal in order to appropriate the “beneficial qualities he believed the talisman embodied as a magical item.”
The writing possibly indicates that the ability to read and write was more widespread than previously thought.
“Contrary to what may be commonly thought, it seems that literacy in this period was not the realm only of society’s elite,” Baruch theorized. “People knew how to read and write – at least at the basic level, for the needs of commerce.”
