The ivory of the Bible from Jerusalem emerges

Eye head from Jerusalem. Courtesy Kobi Harti and Irina Ludsky-Rizenicov, City David Archives and IAAA.

Compared to the surrounding areas, ancient Judah has revealed a relatively low human statue. However, this does not mean that such sculptures were unknown from the earth. A similar example has emerged in the city of David Archaeological Park, which is found in Jerusalem from the Iron Age II (C. 1000-586 BC). Without a certain balance, the small ivory in the form of a woman’s head provides the wealth of information related to the trade of luxury goods and the symbolic reservoir of the kingdom in the ancient Judah.

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The ivory head

During the iron era, there were luxury things on the excavated elephants, which are often related to the local elite. To date, they have been primarily exposed to the main capital cities, including the nine Asheri capitals of Kalhu and Dor Sharkin, as well as Jerusalem and Samaria. By closer to artistic details and designs, it identifies the wide trade network and shared artistic language between elephants from the nearest Eastern elite. However, even though anthropomorphic designs are common in the east, the people who first discovered in Jerusalem have exhibited flowers and geometric forms, which potentially reflect the Bible’s prohibition against the Green Images. Nevertheless, the newly discovered Ivory suggests that the elites of Jerusalem were fully involved in this artistic practice.

The head of the excavated ivory was discovered on the southeastern regions of Jerusalem, which is the main area of occupation during the Iron period. The head, which was broken in antiques, measures less than an inch tall and shows a woman with an Egyptian wig man with a styled haired woman. The carved head also contains a band across the forehead, which is connected to the square element of the head. The eyes are tight, with just one line to show eyebrows. The nose is mostly broken, but the lips left shows that they were quite prominent. Considering the small size of the head and the smooth waist of the ivory, the excavators suggest that it was used to decorate something bigger, possibly a piece of luxury furniture.

Unfortunately, the location where the ivory head was found does not help identify how it was actually used. It was discovered in a layer of materials excavated against the side of the city’s eastern fort. Based on the pottery, the whole filling layer can be safely given the date in the second half of the seventh century BC. Nevertheless, it is likely that the ivory itself is old, because luxury items were often kept for a long time and even handed over to the generation. This shows that the head of the ivory can also predict Judah’s Assyria, when the growing trade has led to luxury things more common. In fact, several ivory samples have been exposed in Jerusalem since the ninth and eighth centuries. If this is the case, it will provide interesting new insights about Judah’s early participation in the Middle East’s wider economic and cultural world.

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To photograph women in the ancient east

Despite the use of a ivory in ancient east, Jerusalem’s head is unusual. Inside the almost Eastern artistic reservoir, women’s heads are usually found in one of the three places. First of all, they can join a large statue showing the whole person. Second, they are sometimes found as the heads of women spinachs. The third and perhaps most common is their appearance in the famous “Woman in the Window” form. However, since the head of Jerusalem has been cut off clean, it will not be broken by a large ivory item and thus is unlikely to belong to any of these three forms. However, although it is not possible to connect the use of the carved head to a particular regional form, the way the woman is shown has been kept in a broader conversation of the Iron Age’s artistic style.

The head can also be part of a lesser -known Jew, which is seen in the statues of the Jewish pillars, small female sculptures that have a pillar -shaped body with arms holding the breasts of the arms, and a head that can be either very easy or very detailed. Mutta sculptures are often considered as a culture, though they are often accumulated with common household items. The head of the Jerusalem ivory resembles some more detailed pillar statues. Nevertheless, the specific way to connect the ivory head to the pillar data is uncertain.

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