Latest news with #TelMalḥata
Fox News
23-05-2025
- General
- Fox News
Ancient Christian figurines discovered in 1,500-year-old desert graves
Archaeologists recently uncovered extraordinary artifacts from an ancient African Christian community in Israel, according to officials. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the finds on May 14. In a Facebook post, the organization said the objects were discovered during an excavation at Tel Malḥata, a mound in the Arad Valley of the Negev Desert. In ancient times, Tel Malḥata served as a crossroads that merchants from the Arabian Peninsula, India and Africa used. The items were found in 1,500-year-old graves of women and children, according to the IAA. Pictures show multiple figurines with human face shapes, along with scattered artifacts, including jugs and pottery fragments. Archaeologists also found other burial offerings, including glassware, bronze bracelets, and jewelry made of stone and alabaster. The burials were conducted according to ancient Christian tradition, with excavators describing the figurines as being "heads of African figures, carved in black wood." In a journal article, researchers said the figurines show that a Christian community lived in Southern Israel "about 1,500 years ago, possibly with some of its members coming from Africa." Said the article, "Carved from bone, and from ebony wood – a rare raw material originating from southern India and Sri Lanka – the figurines were designed in the form of women and men bearing prominent African facial features, and with a hole for the purpose of wearing them around the neck." The study added, "It seems their purpose was not only decorative, but also as intimate personal items carrying with them a story of identity, tradition and memory." The IAA noted that the artifacts were "carefully placed" among the deceased women and children, and after 1,500 years, they're still "exceptionally well-preserved." "It is possible that the figures represent ancestors, and thus they reflect traditions passed down from generation to generation – even after the adoption of the Christian religion," researchers said. The article continued, "It is likely that a woman and a child who were buried side-by-side, and in whose graves two of the figurines were discovered, belonged to the same family – and perhaps they were even mother and son." The IAA noted that unearthing African figurines in Christian graves in Israel is quite unusual and called the find "a rare discovery." "[It] deepens our understanding of the cultural diversity among the inhabitants of the country in this region about 1,500 years ago," the agency wrote. Eli Escusido, director of the IAA, described the findings as "moving, not only from an archaeological perspective, but also on a human level." He added, "They serve as a reminder that the Land of Israel has always been a crossroads of cultures and peoples – individuals arrived here, integrated into the local population, and yet still carried with them traditions and beliefs from distant lands." The grave discoveries are a few of many remarkable IAA finds in the past year. In December, the agency announced the discovery of the oldest-known Chinese inscription in Israel, which was found at the holy site of Mount Zion. In March, an Israeli child uncovered a 3,800-year-old Canaanite amulet at a mound called Tel Azeka, located in the Judean Foothills.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Very rare' African ebony figurines found in 1,500-year-old Christian burials in Israeli desert
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed three 1,500-year-old Christian burials that contain very rare figurines crafted from ebony and bone and depict people from Africa. The figurines — which were likely worn as pendants — might depict these individuals' ancestors, researchers wrote in a new study, which was published in the most recent 2025 issue of the journal 'Atiqot. It's possible that the buried individuals or their ancestors were Africans who had converted to Christianity and then moved to the Negev, the researchers wrote. "The figurines show that a Christian community lived in the south of the country about 1,500 years ago, possibly with some of its members coming from Africa," the researchers said in a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority. The three burials, which held the remains of two women and one child, were found within a cemetery near the archaeological site of Tel Malḥata in the northeastern Negev. The cemetery dates to the Roman-Byzantine period and has many cist, or stone-lined graves. Archaeologists have been excavating Tel Malḥata since the 1970s and have found artifacts showing that the site has been occupied off and one since the Middle Bronze Age (2000 to 1500 B.C.). During the early Roman period, the site had a fortress or fortified mansion, which later became "a central settlement and an administrative capital" during the Roman-Byzantine period, the researchers wrote in the study. Various papers have noted that the site sat on "an important trade crossroads through which passed luxury goods from Arabia and beyond," the team wrote in the study. Related: Ancient Egyptian queen's bracelets contain 1st evidence of long-distance trade between Egypt and Greece Trade likely brought the ebony to the individuals. Ebony is a black wood, which in this case came from the Ceylon ebony (Diospyros ebenum), a slow-growing tree from southern India and Sri Lanka. The Byzantine Empire began trading with India and Sri Lanka in the fourth century A.D., which provided the empire with plants, spices, cotton, silk and ebony, the researchers noted. The burials date from the sixth to seventh centuries A.D., a few centuries after this trade started. Of the five figurines analyzed, three are made from bone and two from ebony. While bone figurines were "common from the Neolithic period onward, and used in domestic rituals as well as in burials," the team wrote in the study that "ebony figurines are very rare." Even though the deceased were buried in Christian-style burials, "it is possible that the figures represent ancestors, and thus they reflect traditions passed down from generation to generation — even after the adoption of the Christian religion," the researchers said in the statement. One cist tomb held a woman who died between the ages of 18 and 21 and who had several grave goods: glass vessels, a bronze bracelet and a bone figurine depicting a woman, the researchers reported. Another cist tomb held a woman who may have been slightly older — she died between the ages of 20 and 30. She was buried with two alabaster jars and several grave goods, including one bone figurine showing the "upper part of a female body" and one ebony figurine that "depicts a very detailed face of a female, with typical African features," the researchers wrote in the study. RELATED STORIES —2,100-year-old farmstead in Israel found 'frozen in time' after owners disappeared —3-year-old picks up 'beautiful stone,' discovers 3,800-year-old scarab amulet in Israel —2,300-year-old grave in Israel contains remains of Greek courtesan who may have accompanied Alexander the Great's army The last cist tomb held the remains of a 6- to 8-year-old child who was buried with bronze jewelry and two figurines — one made of bone and one of ebony. The ebony pendant "shows a very detailed face and torso of a male figure, with typical African features," the researchers wrote in the study. "The figurine has long hair, and possibly represents an ancestor of the deceased." The ebony pendants in the woman's and child's graves are similar in size and style, which hints that they were related and were perhaps mother and child, the researchers said. "It is likely that a woman and a child who were buried side-by-side, and in whose graves two of the figurines were discovered, belonged to the same family — and perhaps they were even mother and son," the researchers said in the statement.
