BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

1,600-Year-Old Bracelet Stamped with Menorah Motifs Uncovered in Dig

Bible and archaeology news

A fragment of a glass bracelet bearing symbols of the seven-branched menorah from the Second Temple was recently discovered during salvage excavations in Mount Carmel National Park in Israel. Photo: Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced this week, during the final days of Hanukkah, that a piece of a glass bracelet engraved with symbols of the seven-branched menorah from the Second Temple was recently discovered during archaeological work in Mount Carmel National Park in Israel. IAA archaeologists were conducting salvage excavations on Late Roman–Early Byzantine (end of fourth–beginning of fifth centuries C.E.) refuse pits in anticipation of the construction of a water reservoir for the city of Yoqneʽam in Lower Galilee. The turquoise-colored bracelet fragment was found in a box containing hundreds of glass fragments.

According to IAA excavation directors Limor Talmi and Dan Kirzner, “It seems that the bracelet was embossed with the decoration while the glass was still hot. Stamped impressions of two menorot survived on the small fragment that was found—one a plain seven-branched menorah … and the other one consisting of a seven-branched menorah with flames depicted above its branches.”

“Bracelets and pendants made of glass that are decorated with symbols of a menorah or lion or different images of gods and animals are known during these periods in Israel, Lebanon and Syria,” explained Yael Gorin-Rosen, head of the Ancient Glass Department of the IAA, in the press release.

Read the IAA press release for more information.

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