The Israel Antiquities Authority recently released this amazing photo of a well preserved 2000-year-old earring found in a Jerusalem archaeological dig. It was located underneath a parking lot near the walls of the Old City in the ruins of a burnt down Byzantine building.The gold earring has a large pearl with two dangles carrying emeralds and smaller pearls. The emeralds' gold setting looks a little worse for wear but the pearls are in great shape considering how long they have been buried. What's more, the design is just as wearable today as it was 2000 years ago.
Jewelry dating back centuries in general are rare because the items were usually taken apart, melted down and remade. The Antiquities Authority said in their press release, "Finds from the Roman period are rare in Jerusalem, because the city was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the first century A.D." The earring was dated by comparing the style to funerary portraits from Roman-era Egypt (see my past post - The Roman Obsession for Pearls).
This earring clearly belonged to a wealthy woman. It's a pity we have no idea who she was or what she looked like. Or even how she came to lose it.
Just think, if you lost one of your earrings today, perhaps someone 2000 years from now might find it and wonder about the person who dropped it!!
Via
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The Beading Gem's Journal
3 comments:
Wow - to think someone all that time ago wore that - pretty incredible!
That is amazing. You do wonder why some things survive and others do not.
Very interesting, pretty design too.
Bev
Not being able to see the back of it, and looking at the loop at top, I'm wondering if maybe it is not a pendant. There was only one found after all.
It is amazing, however, that it could last this long!
I'm very curious to what it is worth.
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