The assemblage of great gold jewelry. (Image: Emil Aladjem/ Israel Antiquities Authority
Gold jewellery identified in 1971 during the excavation of a burial cave from the late Roman interval was displayed this thirty day period at a professional conference structured by the Israel Antiquities Authority and other regional institutions.
The jewellery dates to the Late Antiquity interval, soon after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and created the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina upon its ruins.
When the Roman-era gold jewellery was found all through an excavation led by the late Yael Adler, the come across was originally not published in any journals. The jewellery only arrived to mild in the course of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s “Publication of Previous Excavations Challenge,” aimed at publishing findings not but introduced.
“The location of the original reports that collected dust over the several years in the Israel Antiquities Authority archives, and physically tracing the whereabouts of the items themselves has lose mild on extended-overlooked treasures,” reported Dr. Ayelet Dayan, head of the IAA Archaeological Study Section, which is major the task. “The wonderful jewellery that we researched is an example of such treasures.”
Dayan, Ayelet Gruber and Dr. Yuval Baruch of the IAA investigated the jewellery and claimed the parts have been most likely really precious and served as amulets to shield the wearer in their daily life and in the afterlife. They noted that the things contain symbols of the Roman moon goddess, Luna.
According to their research, two equivalent gold earrings were found out on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in the course of yet another excavation in 1975, which was carried out by Prof. Vassilios Tzaferis on behalf of the Section of Antiquities.
The merchandise possible belonged to a youthful girl who “was buried with an high-priced set of gold jewelry that involved earrings, a chain with a lunula pendant and a hairpin,” said Tzaferis.
Aelia Capitolina “had a combined inhabitants that achieved the metropolis following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple” and soon after the predominantly Jewish inhabitants was scattered, according to the study workforce.
“People from diverse areas of the Roman Empire settled in the metropolis, bringing with them a distinctive established of values, beliefs and rituals. The pagan cult of the city’s new inhabitants was abundant and diverse, such as gods and goddesses, among them the cult of the moon goddess Luna,” they stated.
