Rare archaeological stone seal uncovered in Jerusalem

A rare stone seal from the First Temple period bearing a winged figure and a name in paleo-Hebrew script – Yehoezer ben Hoshayahu – was discovered recently near the Southern Wall of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in the Davidson Archaeological Garden during an excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the City of David. The find was announced in a joint press release by the IAA and City of David ahead of the 25th annual City of David Research Conference in Jerusalem on September 4.

“The seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem and is executed at the highest artistic level,” said excavation directors Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom in the press release. They said the seal had served as an amulet and for signing documents and certificates.

“It has a convex cut on either side, and a hole drilled through its length so that it could be strung onto a chain and worn around the neck. In its center a figure is depicted in profile... with wings, wearing a long striped shirt and striding toward the right.”

According to IAA archaeologist Filip Vukosavovic, “This is an extremely rare and unusual discovery. This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’ – a protective magical figure – has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology.” The seal was probably worn as a symbol of authority around the neck of Hoshayahu, who held a senior position in the Kingdom of Judah’s administration, the researchers said. “It seems that the object was made by a local craftsman – a Judahite who produced the amulet at the owner’s request,” Vukosavovic conjectured.

The hypothesis is that upon Hoshayahu’s passing, his son Yehoezer added his and his father’s names on either side of the figure. The name Yehoezer is mentioned in Chronicles I 12:7 in its abbreviated form – Yoezer, one of King David’s fighters – and in Jeremiah (43:2), which says that a man with a parallel name – Azariah ben Hoshayahu – challenged Jeremiah’s message from God that the survivors of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem should not relocate to Egypt.

Yehoezer could've engraved the coin

According to Prof. Ronny Reich from the University of Haifa, “Comparing the shape of the letters and the writing to those of other Hebrew seals and bullae [clay seal impressions] from Jerusalem shows that in contrast to the careful engraving of the genie, inscribing the names on the seal was done in a sloppy manner. It is not impossible that perhaps it was Yehoezer himself who engraved the names on the object.”

Dr. Baruch said the seal is clear evidence of the reading and writing abilities that existed among the populace at the time. “Judah in general, and Jerusalem in particular at that time, was subject to the hegemony of the Assyrian Empire and was influenced by it – a reality also reflected in cultural and artistic aspects,” he said. “That the seal’s owner chose a genie to be the insignia of his personal seal may attest to his feeling that he belonged to the broader cultural context – just like people today in Israel who see themselves as part of Western culture. Yet within that feeling, this Yehoezer also held firmly onto his local identity, and thus his name is written in Hebrew script, and his name is a Hebrew name belonging to Judah’s culture.”

As Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu noted, such proof of Jewish presence in the Holy Land 2,700 years ago, “when the First Temple stood in all its glory,” is awesome. In addition, this rare seal of authority from the distant past should strengthen our faith in the future during these troubled times for Israel, the Jewish people, and the Western world.