Israeli researchers excavating the ruins of the City of David in Jerusalem have discovered an “extraordinarily well-preserved” 2,300-year-old gold ring that may have belonged to a boy or girl who lived in the area during the Hellenistic period.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Monday that the piece was “made of gold and set with red gemstones, most likely garnets,” but “has not rusted or been subjected to the ravages of age.”
“I was sifting through the dirt through a screen when all of a sudden I saw something shiny,” Tehiya Gangate, a member of the City of David excavation team, said in a statement. “I immediately shouted, ‘I’ve found the ring, I’ve found the ring!’ Within seconds everyone was gathered around me in excitement.”
“This is an amazing find – it’s not something you find every day,” she added. “The truth is, I’ve always wanted to find gold jewellery and I’m so happy that this dream has come true – exactly one week before I go on maternity leave.”
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The Israel Antiquities Authority said the ring’s small diameter led “researchers to estimate that it belonged to a boy or girl who lived in Jerusalem during the Hellenistic period.” (Israel Antiquities Authority)
The Israel Antiquities Authority said the ring was “recently discovered during joint excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University in the City of David, part of the Jerusalem Walls National Park, with support from the Elad Foundation.”
It is scheduled to open to the public on Jerusalem Memorial Day in early June.
“The ring is very small. It would fit a woman’s pinky finger, or the finger of a young girl or boy,” Dr. Yifta Sharev and Riki Zarut Hartov, directors of the excavation at the Israel Antiquities Authority, told the IAA.
“The recently discovered gold ring joins other early Hellenistic ornamental objects uncovered in excavations at the City of David, including horned animal earrings and decorated gold beads,” added Professor Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University and excavator Efrat Bottcher.
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A researcher poses with a ring discovered in the City of David in Jerusalem. (Israel Antiquities Authority)
“In the past, only a few structures and artefacts from this period had been found, leading most scholars to assume that Jerusalem was then a small town, confined to the top of the southeastern slope (the ‘City of David’) and with relatively few resources, but these new discoveries tell a different story: the collection of discovered structures now constitutes an entire district,” the researchers said.
“These remains attest to the presence of both residential and public buildings, and that the city extended westwards from the hilltop. The building features, and of course the gold and other finds, indicate the city’s robust economy and elite status. The city’s inhabitants appear to have been open to Hellenistic styles and influences, which were also widespread in the eastern Mediterranean,” the researchers added.
Excavators say the ring contributes to “a new picture of the nature and status of Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the early Hellenistic period.” (Israel Antiquities Authority)
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“Gold jewellery was well known in the Hellenistic world from the reign of Alexander the Great onwards,” the IAA said, “and his conquests promoted the dissemination and transport of luxury goods and manufactured products.”
