Rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry found at Megiddo

[Jim Myers]

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have recently discovered a collection of gold and silver jewelry, dated from around 1100 B.C., hidden in a vessel at the archaeological site of Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. One piece - a gold earring decorated with molded ibexes, or wild goats - is "without parallel," they believe. According to Prof. Israel Finkelstein of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures, the vessel was found in 2010, but remained uncleaned while awaiting a molecular analysis of its content. When they were finally able to wash out the dirt, pieces of jewelry, including a ring, earrings, and beads, flooded from the vessel. Prof. Ussishkin believes that it was the jewelry collection of the Canaanite woman who lived in the house. Read complete article and view the pictures at -- http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Rare_trove_jewelry_Megiddo_May_2012.htm