1 jan 790 ano antes da era comum - Seal of Jeroboam 2

Descrição:

2,700 years ago, tiny clay piece sealed deal for Bible’s King Jeroboam II
Bought for a pittance at a market in 1980, 8th century BCE paleo-Hebrew inscription is the earliest writing found on a clay seal impression in the Land of Israel, study shows

By AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN
10 December 2020, 6:35 am

What is arguably the earliest inscribed clay seal impression from the Land of Israel — used at the court of Israelite King Jeroboam II — has been authenticated after years of strict laboratory testing under the supervision of Ben-Gurion University Prof. Yuval Goren. The inscribed clay, known as a bulla, was purchased without provenance from a Bedouin antiquities merchant in the 1980s and is now thought to be from Jeroboam II’s 8th century BCE reign.

“This bulla is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, inscribed bulla in the Land of Israel,” Goren told The Times of Israel

The oval bulla is almost identical to a rare — and now lost — much larger jasper stone seal that was found in 1904 by an archaeological excavation at Tel Megiddo led by Gottlieb Schumacher. Both the remarkable lost seal and the newly authenticated seal impression are adorned by a roaring lion that stands with his tail raised, over which is a paleo-Hebrew inscription, “l’Shema eved Yerov’am” (Belonging to Shema the servant/minister of Jeroboam).

Among the researchers who participated in the new sealing study were Ben-Gurion University epigrapher Prof. Shmuel Ahituv, geologists Dr. Avner Ayalon and Dr. Mira Bar-Matthews from the Geological Survey of Israel, and IAA archaeologist Orit Shamir, who specializes in textiles.

Goren specializes in researching the provenance of ceramic artifacts — including seal impressions and cuneiform tablets — and uncovering the technology used to create them through mineralogy. For the new bulla study, he said he had to remove a tiny fragment of the clay to examine the mineral makeup.

Another series of tests analyzed the isotopic composition of the bulla’s patina, a thin layer of tarnish, which occurs through exposure to air over time and can be faked by forgers — up to a point. “You can imitate patina in a laboratory, but this test would discover a forgery,” said Goren.

Adicionado na linha do tempo:

Data: