More than 100 seals engraved on ceramics dating from 2,700 years ago were unveiled this week in Jerusalem. According to archaeologists, this discovery sheds new light on the ancient Israelite kingdom of Judea and in particular on the organization of tax collection.
A photo taken on July 22, 2020 shows ceramic fragments marked with a Hebrew seal, dating from 2,700 years ago, in Jerusalem
A few kilometers from the Old City of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) discovered the underground remains of a complex whose foundations are still visible.
120 jugs marked with the seal "To the king"
At this site near the US Embassy, more than 120 handles of ceramic jugs, marked with the seal "To the King" in Hebrew, were found. They date from the Kingdom of Judea, founded in 940 BC and having disappeared with the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
The jugs likely contained olive oil and wine and were collected from the people on behalf of the Judean king as taxes, said Neria Sapir, an AIA official who considers the seal find as one of the largest of its kind in Israel.
The seat of the "Public Treasury" at the time
Given the size of the remains discovered, the proximity to the Old City of Jerusalem and the number of ceramics found, archaeologists have concluded that the site must have been the seat of the "Public Treasury" of the time.
Once collected, the containers were partly handed over to the rulers of the Assyrian Empire, of which the Kingdom of Judea was a part. Others were certainly amassed by the inhabitants of the Judean kingdom in preparation for their revolt against the empire, around 701 BC, which failed.
On these ceramic jugs, other stamps have been found which seem to refer to people who were probably figures of the old kingdom, officials or wealthy people. For the archaeologists in charge of the excavations, all this indicates that the place was a nerve center of Jerusalem thousands of years ago.
But a question remains obscure in their eyes:why did they choose, to establish a tax collection center, this place certainly located near the capital of the kingdom and fields of olive trees and vineyards, but on a steep and rocky ground? ? "It's a mystery ", admits Mr. Sapir, who hopes to find the answer as the excavations progress.