The find was presented to the public at the City of David Archaeology Conference, which took place at the beginning of September.
Yuval Gadot from the University of Tel Aviv and Yiftah Shalev from the Israel Antiquities Authority date the piece of jewellery to the early Hellenistic period, an era regarding which, in connection with Jerusalem, very little is known. Over the last 100 years, two different excavations have been carried out; but the discoveries have been mainly limited to pottery fragments and a few coins.
Larger remains of buildings that could possibly be dated to this period have yet to be discovered.
The earring depicts the head of a horned animal, possibly an antelope or a deer, with large eyes, mouth and other details. The researchers cannot say whether the ornament was worn by a man or a woman. “Neither do we know anything about the cultural or religious identity of the wearer,” they said. “But we can say with certainty: whoever wore this earring was part of the upper class in Jerusalem.” This...
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