Archaeologists in Jerusalem have announced the discovery of a gold ring believed to be 2,300 years old.
The ring resembles another piece found last year at the City of David site in the Jerusalem Walls National Park. A study of the jewellery suggests that the rings may be connected to a coming-of-age ritual for young women before marriage.
Researchers believe the rings and bronze earrings likely come from the early Hellenistic Period in Jerusalem. Marion Zindel, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, analysed the rings and said they were made by hammering thin gold leaf onto metal ring bases.
“One of the possibilities now being examined is that the jewellery found in the building’s foundations was in the context of executing a well-known Hellenistic period custom in which betrothed women would bury jewellery and other childhood objects in the house foundations as a symbol of the transition from childhood to adulthood,” Zindel explained.
Researchers also noted that the jewellery design may have been influenced by trade with dominant empires at the time. Specifically, jewellery that combines gold with bright colour gemstones was a fashion inspired by places such as India and Persia.
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Credit: jewellermagazine.com
