Archaeologists working at a dig site in the City of David in Jerusalem recently made a surprising discovery related to events described in the Bible, Haaretz reports.
According to the newspaper, scholars unearthed the ruins of a massive building which apparently was burned when the city was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., and while sifting through charred debris within the structure, they stumbled upon a tiny clay seal impression inscribed with a familiar name.
Anat Mendel-Geberovich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Center for the Study of Ancient Jerusalem, the scholar who deciphered the text, pointed out that while we cannot be certain that the biblical Nathan-Melech and the owner of the seal were the same person, "it is impossible to ignore some of the details that link them together".
The archaeologists also found an agate stone seal “[belonging] to Ikkar son of Matanyahu”, the newspaper adds.
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As Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the IAA told The Times of Israel, these inscriptions are "not just another discovery" – instead, they "paint a much larger picture of the era in Jerusalem."
"What is importance is not just that they were found in Jerusalem, but [that they were found] inside their true archaeological context", Shalev said.