Two Unique 2,600-Year-Old Seals From First Temple Period Unearthed In Jerusalem

MessageToEagle.com – A rare almost 2,600-year-old seal bearing the name “Elihana bat Gael” was unearthed at the City of David, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park, informs the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Another seal belonging to a man named “Sa‘aryahu ben Shabenyahu” was found nearby.

After nine years of excavations, archaeologists finally reached the strata of ancient Jerusalem dating to the First Temple period.

Who were Elihana bat Gael and Sa‘aryahu ben Shabenyahu?

“The owner of the seal was exceptional compared to other women of the First Temple period: she had legal status, which allowed her to conduct business and possess property,” said archaeologists.

“Finding seals that bear names from the time of the First Temple is hardly a commonplace occurrence, and finding a seal that belonged to a woman is an even rarer phenomenon.”

The seals were found inside a structure built of magnificent ashlars. The researchers believe that the well-constructed building was used as an administrative center.

“Personal seals, such as those of Elihana and Sa’aryahu, were used for signing documents, and were frequently inlaid as part of a ring that was worn by the owner,” said archaeologist and excavation directors Dr. Doron Ben-Ami, Yana Tchekhanovets and Salome Cohen.

“In antiquity, they designated the identity, genealogy and status of the owner of the seal.”

Dr. Hagai Misgav of Hebrew University in Jerusalem added that

“Seals that belonged to women represent just a very small proportion of all the seals that have been discovered to date. This is because of the generally inferior economic status of women, apart from extraordinary instances such as this.

“Indeed, the name Elihana does not appear in the Bible, and there is no other information regarding the identity of the woman, but the fact that she possessed a seal demonstrates her high social status.”

“Most of the women’s seal that are known to us bear the name of the father rather than that of the husband. Here, as in other cases, this might indicate the relatively elevated status of Elihana, which depended on her original family, and not on her husband’s family. It seems that Elihana maintained her right to property and financial independence even after her marriage and therefore her father’s name was retained; however, we do not have sufficient information about the law in Judah during this period”.

The name Eliha is known from a contemporary Ammonite seal and is the feminine form of the name Eli, known from the Bible.

The script appearing on the seal is remarkably similar to the script on Ammonite seals, and this might indicate the foreign origin of the artisan who carved the seal and possibly the foreign origin of Elihana, who apparently came from east of the Jordan River.

The Book of Proverbs (31:13-23) states that an ideal wife is responsible for providing for the needs of her household when her husband is engaged in public and legal affairs at the city gate – “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands… Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land”.

An archive of documents preserved in the Judean desert from the time of the Second Temple indicates, among other things, the business of Babatha bat Shimon, a female land owner who had legal status. But as generally speaking, evidence of legal and financial independence in the bible and archaeology are rare, and it seems that the exception to the rule indeed sheds light on the rule itself.

The second seal that was exposed in the excavation was also in mirror-writing and bears the inscription “to Sa’aryahu ben Shabenyahu”. The name Sa’aryahu appears on a sherd from Arad, and apparently means “the Lord, which was revealed in a storm” (see Job 38).

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source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs