1,800-year-old ring engraved with goddess Athena found by Israeli boy
The boy, Yair Weitzen from Haifa, discovered a rare bronze ring during a hiking trip. The ring was handed over to the state treasury and will be publicly displayed as part of the summer tours
Yair Weitson, a 13-year-old resident of Haifa, went hiking near his home with his father, who had returned from four months of reserve duty.
During the trip, near an ancient quarry site at the foot of Mount Carmel, he suddenly stumbled upon a curious object.
"I'm interested in fossils and stones and like to collect them," Weitson said. "During the trip, I noticed a small green object and picked it up. There was corrosion on it, so at first I thought it was the nut of a screw. I thought about melting it, but fortunately, I realized it was a ring. At home, I identified that there was a figure on it. At first glance, I thought it was a warrior."
The family appealed to Nir Distelfeld, inspector at the Israel Antiquities Authority's Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, who transferred the ring to the state treasury. It was examined and investigated by the Antiquities Authority with the assistance of Prof. Shua Amorai-Stark, an expert on rings, gemstones, and ancient seals from the Kaye Academic College. Yair and his family came for a tour at the new National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem, and during it, Yair was awarded a certificate of honor for his good citizenship.
"On the beautiful ring, which has been preserved in its entirety, appears a bare figure wearing a helmet. In one hand she is holding a shield, and in the other a spear," explained Distelfeld and Dr. Eitan Klein of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft. "Yair's identification of the figure as a warrior is very close to reality. The figure is probably Minerva from Roman mythology, also known as Athena in Greek mythology. This goddess, who was very popular during the Roman period in Israel, was considered, among other things, the goddess of war and military strategy, but also the goddess of wisdom."
"The small ring, apparently made of metal, probably belonged to a woman or a girl and is dated to the Roman period (3-2 centuries B.C.E.). It was found at the foot of the ancient site of Khirbet Shalala, located on a hill where remnants of a Roman estate and a nearby ancient quarry are. At the end of the quarry are two burial openings. Hence, it is possible that the ring belonged to a woman who lived in that estate. Another possibility is that it belonged to a worker in the quarry, or perhaps it was used as a burial gift in nearby graves. There are many possibilities," say the researchers.
Khirbet Shalala sit atop a hill in the center of the Carmel mountains. The ruin is surrounded on three sides by the Oren stream and near it is Ein Alon, a permanent water source. The place was previously explored by researchers from the British Survey Fund, by Prof. Ruth Amiran, and by a delegation from Bar-Ilan University led by Prof. Shimon Dr. "The ring adds to previous excavation data and surveys conducted and sheds more light on the site," conclude Distelfeld and Dr. Klein.