A Rare and Prestigious Collection of Decorated Ivories from the First Temple Period Found in the City of David
An extraordinary discovery was unearthed in Jerusalem: an assemblage of ivory plaques from the First Temple period, among the few found anywhere in the world, and the first of their kind to be found in Jerusalem. They came to light in the excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University at the Givati Parking Lot in the City of David in the Jerusalem Walls National Park; the excavations are funded by the City of David Foundation. The ivories considered one of the costliest raw materials in the ancient world – even more than gold – were found among the ruins of a palatial building in use when Jerusalem was at the height of its power (the eighth and seventh centuries BCE). Scholars believe that the decorated ivories were inlaid in wooden furnishings that were used by the residents of the building – people of means, influence and power, possibly high government officials or priests.
According to the excavation directors, Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures and Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority: “To date, we only knew of decorated ivories from the capitals of the great kingdoms in the First Temple period, such as Nimrud, the capital of Assyria, or Samaria, the capital of the Israelite Kingdom. Now, for the first time, Jerusalem joins these capitals. We were already aware of Jerusalem's importance and centrality in the region in the First Temple period, but the new finds illustrate how important it was and places it in the same league as the capitals of Assyria and Israel. The discovery of the ivories is a step forward in understanding the political and economic status of the city as part of global administration and economy.”
Ivory is mentioned only a few times in the Bible, always in connection with royalty or great wealth – the description of the throne of King Solomon (I Kings 10:18); an ivory palace built by King Ahab in Samaria (1 Kings 22:39); and the prophet Amos' castigation of Israelite nobility: “They lie on ivory beds, lolling on their couches” (Amos 6:4). The impressive building in which the ivories were unearthed was devastated in a huge fire, apparently during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, and the ivories were discovered smashed into tiny pieces and burnt. During the excavation, as part of the wet-sieving project in Emek Tsurim National Park, no fewer than 1,500 fragments were found. It was only after a unique restoration project, led by conservator Orna Cohen, together with Ilan Naor from the Israel Antiquities Authority, that the plaques were restored, and the richness of the assemblage was revealed. “At the end of the process of joining and 'fusing' hundreds of the fragments, we were able to understand that the assemblage includes remnants of at least 12 small square plaques – about 5 cm x 5 cm, at most 0.5 cm thick – which were originally inlaid in wooden furnishings,” Cohen and Naor said.
The ivories that were discovered were not the only prestigious items found at the site. A seal made of agate (a semi-precious stone) was also unearthed, as well as a seal impression carrying the name “Natan-Melech servant of the king”, jars that had held vanilla-spiced wine, decorated stone items and wooden objects that were apparently part of other large wooden furnishings. Decorated ivories are the rarest and most outstanding finds in archaeological assemblages. Their prestige stems from the source of the ivory: microscopic testing by Harel Shohat of the University of Haifa revealed that they were made from elephant tusk.
Comments