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archeologist in Israel have discovered a 2,300 - year - previous Au ring set with a red gemstone — likely a garnet — that a youngster may have ritually buried as they left behind childhood and transitioned into maturity .
The small doughnut dates to the Hellenistic , or Greek , time period , and was find in the City of David in the Jerusalem Walls National Park . This is thesecond amber ringfrom the other Hellenistic point that archaeologist have found there in less than a twelvemonth .
The 2,300-year-old gold ring set with a red gemstone was found in the City of David, an archaeological site in Israel.
Archaeologists found the ring during a workaday dig .
" We sifted the dirt through a sieve , flop near the excavation area , and suddenly Ben , who works with me , commit a gold ring out of the soil , " Rivka Lengler , a City of David power shovel , order in the instruction . " At first , he was sure it must be a modern item dropped by one of our excavators , but when I examined the ring , I immediately assessed it as something ancient . "
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The newfound ring (bottom) and a similar ring that was found at the same archaeological site earlier this year.
The archaeological level in which the ring was found date to the late third or early second hundred B.C. , also known as the Second Temple period , which hold up while the Second Temple stick out in Jerusalem from about 516 B.C. to A.D. 70 , when theRomansdestroyed it . This bed has yield other worthful artefact , including bronze earring , a gold earring with a depiction of a horn animal , and a decorated amber bead .
The newfound annulus was unearthed in the foundation of a large building , suggesting that whoever last there was wealthy , the researchers state in the statement . And the fact that t several precious artifacts have been found in the area evoke that whoever sink them may have been following a custom .
" That the two small rings and the eternal rest of the jewelry were all discovered under the construction ’s floor upgrade the theory that they were inhume there on purpose , " Marion Zindel , an archeologist with the IAA who analyzed the ring , said in the instruction .
The ring may have been swallow up as part of a coming - of - age ritual , which was a " well - get laid Hellenistic period custom , " she read . " Betrothed cleaning woman would sink jewelry and other childhood objects in the house foundations as a symbolization of the modulation from childhood to maturity , " Zindel explicate .
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The ring ’s stone also agree into trends from that time .
" jewellery that combines gold with brightly colored precious stones , such as the garnet stone , were well - known from this period , in which fashion was influence by easterly countries such as India and Persia , " the researchers said in the statement . " These fashionable influences were enabled thanks toAlexander the Great ’s conquests , and the consequent swop channel open up with these realm . "
This is far from the only Hellenistic determination in Israel linked to Alexander the Great . In 2023 , archaeologists announced they had found the wayside interment of aGreek doxy who had been buried with an ornate bronze mirror . Researchers believe this char was accompanying the Macedonian power ’s armies when she died 2,300 years ago .
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