Abstract
A trove of artifacts, which is published here for the first time, was bought by the Israel Museum in 1985. It includes inter alia silver jewellery, comprising earrings, dozens of beads and more. Additional beads are made of semi-precious stones and glass. Some beads were still arranged as segments of necklaces strung on linen threads on arrival to the museum. A segment of a necklace from Tel 'Ira in the Negev (Israel) proved to be identical to some of the necklace segments in the trove. This surprising discovery, coupled with other clues, suggests that the entire museum's trove was looted from the Iron Age II eastern cemetery of Tel 'Ira. Tracing the findspot of antiquities from the market with such precision is not very common. Moreover, this rare discovery enhances our understanding of Tel 'Ira and its cemetery.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Mortals, Deities and Divine Symbols |
| Subtitle of host publication | Rethinking Ancient Images from the Levant to Mesopotamia: Studies Offered to Tallay Ornan |
| Publisher | Archaeopress |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781803272948 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781803272931 |
| State | Published - 29 May 2025 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The individual authors and Archaeopress 2025. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Archaeological looting
- Iron Age
- Israel Museum
- Jewellery
- Museums' collections
- Provenance studies
- Tel'Ira