Israel: Six Clay Seals Discovered In Israel Linked To Era Of Kings David And Solomon

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Around 1200 B.C. the great states of the Bronze Age collapsed and left a vacuum of power. At the same time, there may have been a period of great climatological disasters, such as earthquakes and storms.

Photo by University of Wisconsin/Nathaniel Greene
A Mississippi State University team found this bulla, or ancient clay seal, on a
dig site  in southern Israel last summer. It offers evidence of government activity
in the 10th century B.C., a time when many scholars said a kingdom could not
exist in the region.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Carol Kuruvilla | December 20, 2014

A Mississippi State University archaeological team uncovered six official clay seals at a dig in southern Israel -- offering some support for the reigns of King David and his wise son Solomon as found in the Hebrew Bible.

The seals, or bullae, were found at a site near Gaza called Khirbet Summeily and used to seal important documents. Ancient people would wrap a string around a rolled sheet of papyrus, then place a lump of clay on it and stamp it with the seal, according to James Hardin, an associate professor at MSU’s Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures. The only way to read the document was to break the clay.

Around 1200 B.C., Hardin says that the great states of the Bronze Age collapsed and left a vacuum of power. At the same time, there may have been a period of great climatological disasters, such as earthquakes and storms. The unrest and upheaval may have eventually led to the formation of smaller kingdoms -- like Judah, Israel, and Philistia.

For some time, scholars have debated whether that kind of complex political activity started in the region during the 10th century or if it happened much later, perhaps as late as the 8th century B.C. [ More ... ]





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