Israeli excavators discover 2,300-year-old gold ring at City of David site

Israeli researchers digging in Jerusalem’s City of David archeological site have uncovered an "exceedingly well-preserved" 2,300-year-old gold ring that is believed to have belonged to a boy or girl that lived in the area during the Hellenistic period. 

The piece of jewelry, which is "made of gold and set with a red precious stone, apparently a garnet," has "accumulated no rust nor suffered other weathering of time," the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Monday. 

"I was sifting earth through the screen and suddenly saw something glitter," Tehiya Gangate, a City of David excavation team member, said in a statement. "I immediately yelled, ‘I found a ring, I found a ring!’ Within seconds everyone gathered around me, and there was great excitement."

"This is an emotionally moving find, not the kind you find every day," she added. "In truth I always wanted to find gold jewelry, and I am very happy this dream came true – literally a week before I went on maternity leave."   

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The Israel Antiquities Authority says because of the ring's small diameter, "researchers estimate that it belonged to a boy or girl who lived in Jerusalem during the Hellenistic period." (Israel Antiquities Authority)

The Israel Antiquities Authority says the ring was "recently found in the joint Israel Antiquities Authority-Tel Aviv University excavation in the City of David, part of the Jerusalem Walls National Park, with the support of the Elad Foundation." 

It will be put on display to the public in early June during Jerusalem Day. 

"The ring is very small. It would fit a woman’s pinky, or a young girl or boy’s finger," the IAA cited Dr. Yiftah Shalev and Riki Zalut Har-Tov, Israel Antiquities Authority Excavation Directors, as saying. 

Tel Aviv University Professor Yuval Gadot and excavator Efrat Bocher added that, "The recently found gold ring joins other ornaments of the early Hellenistic period found in the City of David excavations, including the horned-animal earring and the decorated gold bead."   

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A researcher poses with the ring after it was found in Jerusalem's City of David. (Israel Antiquities Authority)

"Whereas in the past we found only a few structures and finds from this era, and thus most scholars assumed Jerusalem was then a small town, limited to the top of the southeastern slope ("City of David") and with relatively very few resources, these new finds tell a different story: The aggregate of revealed structures now constitute an entire neighborhood," they said. 

"They attest to both domestic and public buildings, and that the city extended from the hilltop westward. The character of the buildings – and now of course, the gold finds and other discoveries, display the city’s healthy economy and even its elite status. It certainly seems that the city’s residents were open to the widespread Hellenistic style and influences prevalent also in the eastern Mediterranean Basin," the researchers added. 

Those involved with the excavation say the ring helps "paint a new picture of the nature and stature of Jerusalem’s inhabitants in the Early Hellenistic Period." (Israel Antiquities Authority)

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The IAA says "Gold jewelry was well-known in the Hellenistic world, from Alexander the Great’s reign onward" as "his conquests helped spread and transport luxury goods and products."