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Archeologists find 2,500-year-old "rare" woman's seal in east Jerusalem

Xinhua, March 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Monday that a "rare" 2,500-year-old seal bearing a Hebrew name of a woman was found outside Jerusalem's Old City.

The seal was discovered in the City of David, an archeological site in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

Israeli archeologists have been excavating the site for over nine years in an attempt to find evidence of early Jewish life in Jerusalem during antiquity.

Recently, they succeeded to reach a deep strata dating to the First Temple period. According to the bible, this temple was built by King Solomon before Nebuchadnezzar II destructed it in 587 BC.

"Finding seals that bear Hebrew names from the time of the First Temple is hardly a commonplace occurrence, and finding a seal that belonged to a woman is an even rarer phenomenon," said the researchers in a statement.

The seal, made of semi-precious stone, bears an inscription in mirror-writing ancient Hebrew letters: "to Elihana bat Gael," meaning: "Elihana daughter of Gael."

According to Dr. Hagai Misgav of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, "seals that belonged to women represent just a very small proportion of all the seals that have been discovered to date. This is because of the generally inferior economic status of women, apart from extraordinary instances such as this."

The find was discovered inside a "structure built of magnificent ashlars," a spokeswoman for the Antiquities Authority said. "The researchers believe that the well-constructed building was used as an administrative center," she added.

The archeologists found a second seal there, bearing the inscription "Sa'aryahu ben Shabenyahu."

"Personal seals, such as those of Elihana and Sa'aryahu, were used for signing documents, and were frequently inlaid as part of a ring that was worn by the owner," said Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, a director of the excavation. "In antiquity they designated the identity, genealogy and status of the owner of the seal," he said. Endit