10-year-old tourist finds rare seal from First Temple period - Yori Yalon

by Yori Yalon

"The discovery of the seal testifies to the administrative activity which took place upon the Temple Mount during those times," says archeologist, adding that this was the first time such an artifact links Temple Mount to King David.

 

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 Matvei Tcepliaev, who found the rare seal from the Temple Mount

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Photo credit: City of David Archive 

Matvei Tcepliaev, a 10-year-old Russian tourist, managed to leave an imprint on Israel -- literally -- when he stumbled upon a rare 3,000 year-old seal dating to the period of the biblical kings David and Solomon. 

Tcepliaev, who recently visited the Holy Land with his family, found the artifact while visiting an archeological dig on near Mount Scopus known as the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The project, which was launched in 2005, is "dedicated to recovering archaeological artifacts from 300 truckloads of soil removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf [the Islamic administrators] ... between 1996 to 1999." Some 170,000 volunteers have taken part in the project, which is run under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University and with the support of the City of David Foundation. It is supervised by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. 

"The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem," stated Dr. Gabriel Barkay, the co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. "The dating of the seal corresponds to the historical period of the Jebusites and the conquest of Jerusalem by King David, as well as the construction of the Temple and the royal official compound by his son, King Solomon. ... What makes this discovery particularly significant is that it originates from upon the Temple Mount itself."

"The discovery of the seal testifies to the administrative activity which took place upon the Temple Mount during those times," said Barkay. "Other seals with similar stylistic designs have been found at sites in Israel, among them Tel Beit Shemesh, Tel Gezer and Tel Rehov, and were dated to the 11th to 10th centuries BCE [the era of David and Solomon]," asserted Barkay. "I have been working on the site for almost 10 years, and this was the first time I discovered such a rare seal; this was like finding a hidden treasure," he added. What made this discovery particularly rare was the fact that this was the first time an archeological find from the Temple Mount could be traced to David's conquest and the early part of the First Temple period. "It originated in the Temple Mount, which was the main administrative and religious center of the city," Barkay said. 

"Upon the base of the seal appear the images of two animals, one on top of the other, perhaps representing a predator and its prey. Additionally, the seal is perforated, thus enabling one to hang it from a string," said Barkay. Zachi Dvira, co-founder and director of the project, was also moved by the artifact. "As the Temple Mount has never been excavated, the ancient artifacts retrieved in the Sifting Project provide valuable and previously inaccessible information," he said. "The many categories of finds are among the largest and most varied ever found in Jerusalem. Even though they have been extracted from their archaeological context, most of these artifacts can be identified and dated by comparing them with those found at other sites."

Yori Yalon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=28507

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