Ancient Mystery Unearthed: 2,300-Year-Old Gold Ring with Enigmatic Red Gemstone Discovered in Jerusalem’s City of David
Rather than being dropped by accident, archaeologists suspect that these objects may have been buried purposefully during antiquity, and that they may connect to coming-of-age traditions in the early Hellenistic period.
The Hellenistic-Era Tradition Associated With The Ring Found In Jerusalem
E Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities AuthorityThe newly-uncovered gold ring is small and was likely once worn by a child.
The ring found in the City of David is particularly small, so much so that it was likely worn by a young girl. And because it was seemingly left intentionally with the other objects, it might be related to a Hellenistic right of passage for girls.
“That the two small rings and the rest of the jewelry were all discovered under the building’s floors raises the possibility that they were buried there on purpose,” Dr. Marion Zindel, who studied the ring, explained.
She continued: “One of the possibilities now being examined is that the jewelry found in the building’s foundations was in the context of executing a well-known Hellenistic period custom in which betrothed women would bury jewelry and other childhood objects in the house foundations as a symbol of the transition from childhood to adulthood.”
The IAA additionally reports that whoever left the ring behind likely came from a family of great wealth. Near the jewelry hoard is the foundation of a large building, hinting at the family’s prosperity, and the gold ring, with its “brightly colored precious stone” lining up with well-known fashions of the time, would likely have been expensive.
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