MALI: No one would have thought that rare piece of artifact from the 8th century, a Biblical King’s seal will be found in a dump site.The seal was for a papyrus document signed by one of the kings of Judah. The piece of clay was hidden so well that it took 2,700 years for it to be discovered in Jerusalem. It was inscribed with King Hezekiah’s seal.
The seal was referred to a “bulla” back then, and was believed to be the first-ever seal from a Judean or Israeli King, the oldest discovered by archaeologists.
According to Eilat Mazar who directs excavations at the City of David’s summit, “The seal of the king was so important. It could have been a matter of life or death, so it’s hard to believe that anyone else had the permission to use the seal.”
And he continued, “Therefore, it’s very reasonable to assume we are talking about an impression made by the King himself, using his own ring… This the greatest single item I have ever found.”
Mazar was a third generation archaeologist.
They conducted the Ophel excavations at the bottom of the southern wall of the Temple Mount.
They bulla was oval in shape with size of 0.5 inches in width and was discovered by researchers led by Mazar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
They were excavating an ancient dump near Silwan neighborhood which is just beside the wall surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem.
The excavation site itself is precious because it is an Israeli archaeological site located in East of Jerusalem just beside the Palestinian neighborhood. Some experts claim that the excavation was only politically motivated so that Jewish can extend their claims over the Old City and East Jerusalem. And the archaeological discoveries become their historical justification of their claim.
Archaeologists believe that the seal has been discarded from a royal building thinking it was trash and threw it.
“Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah,” says the inscription on the clay that is written in Hebrew.
The seal features a two-winged sun, wings pointing downwards that flanked by two ankh symbols that signify life.
