Biblical Archaeology Society Staff • 01/04/2012
Jerusalem archaeologist Gabriel Barkay announced this week that
the Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered a fragment of a
seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla impressed with the ancient
Hebrew inscription [g]b’n lmlk, or “Gibeon, for the
king.” According to Barkay, the bulla is evidence for royal
taxation of different Judahite cities, in this case the town of
Gibeon.
More than 50 other such “fiscal bullae” are already known, but most lack contextual information. “All the fiscal bullae known until now come from the antiquities market, and our bulla is the first one to come from a controlled archaeological project,” wrote Barkay on the project’s Web site. “This bulla enables us to fully illuminate and discuss the entire phenomenon of the fiscal bullae.”
Learn more about the Gibeon bulla.
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