A 3,000-year-old Phoenician gold pendant was recently announced in Jerusalem. The artifact was originally discovered in 2012 in the Ophel excavations directed by Eilat Mazar. It is made of electrum (a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver), is basket-shaped, and measures 4 × 4 × 2 millimeters. The artifact is similar to other basket pendants known from Phoenician sites, and, based on the archaeological context in which it was found, it was dated to the tenth century BC. This discovery could be seen as supporting the biblical record that there were Phoenician workers in Jerusalem who constructed David’s palace (2 Sm 5:11), although some scholars have pointed out that the artifact may have simply arrived via trade, as the Phoenicians are known to have been great traders in the ancient world.
OFF-SITE LINKS:
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/first-temple-era-phoenician-pendant-earliest-gold-artifact-found-in-jerusalem/
- https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2024-02-29/ty-article/rare-phoenician-pendant-found-in-jerusalem-but-is-it-linked-to-king-solomon/0000018d-f47e-d401-a3dd-fd7ef50c0000
Read more BREAKING NEWS articles here: https://biblearchaeology.org/current-events-list
