Object
Small serpentinite axe from Crete
A polished stone tool less than five centimetres long, which the record describes in one word: "celt". A Neolithic object from Crete that recalls how long the Neolithic is outside the Levant too.
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Documented objects
A particular object, not a kind: every page here starts from a collection record, quotes its dating as worded, and separates what the record says from what can be inferred from it.
A kind of find describes a group: pottery, inscriptions, coins. An object is one item with a record number, a holder and a date as published by its source. Object pages keep three things apart: what you see, what the record says, and where the object is now. A field the source did not give stays empty.
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FiltersNo filter · 18 objects
18 objects Order: by the source's normalised date, earliest first; objects without a placeable range come last.
Object
Scarab amulet from Lisht
A one-centimetre amulet of glazed faience found in the debris of a tomb at Lisht South. The record documents an exact findspot and a display in Gallery 109; what it lacks is an open photograph.
Text frame in place of a photograph
Blue-green glazed faiencel. 1 cm (3/8 in)
The source record has no image
Object
Cypriot jug with white-painted decoration
A small clay jug with white decoration, dated to the Middle Cypriot period. The site has no Cypriot period scheme yet, so the jug appears in a list by source date.
Object
Scarab with a crocodile-headed figure
A small seal-amulet of glazed steatite that the museum records "From Canaan, Levant" and dates by an Egyptian dynasty. Place, dating scheme and culture are three separate questions here.
Object
Canaanite jar
A large Late Bronze Age clay jar that the museum records as "Canaanite" and "Levant" with no findspot. A pointed base and two handles: a form made for storage and transport, which says something about the vessel before anyone knows where it came from.
Object
Shabti from the tomb of Sennedjem
An uninscribed limestone figurine found in the tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina in the excavations of 1885-86. The museum dates it to the reign of Ramesses II and displays it in Gallery 126.
Object
Bronze spearhead from Cyprus
A leaf-shaped blade with a pronounced midrib and a socket with two rivet holes. The record even describes the fabric impression left on the socket; what it lacks is a findspot.
Object
Ivory plaque from Nimrud with two sphinxes
An ivory furniture plaque excavated in 1962 at Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud: two sphinxes flanking a cartouche. The record attributes the style to the Phoenician and notes that none of the inlays survived.
Object
Gold daric with a king
A small gold coin of the Achaemenid empire, assigned by the museum to Iran and dated to the fourth century BCE. The figure is a "king" per the record's title; more than that the record does not say.
Object
Roman mold-blown glass jug
A turquoise-green glass jug 9.5 cm high, blown in a four-part mold. The record documents the mold seams on the vessel but does not say where the jug came from; it is therefore recorded in the region "place not stated".
Object
Roman terracotta oil lamp
A small mold-made lamp with a locust eating grapes on the discus. The record proposes "probably Syria-Palestine" as the place of manufacture, not a findspot.
Object
Bronze coin of Cyzicus
A Roman civic coin from Asia Minor: a bust of Alexander Severus on one side, a table with imperial busts and sacrificial implements on the other. The coin that accompanies the article on coins and hoards as a comparison, not as a coin from the hoard.
Object
Syrian glass jug with cobalt trails
A small blue-green glass jug with blue trails around the rim and neck. The record gives a three-century range that crosses the site's boundary between "Roman" and "Byzantine", so the jug is not placed on the timeline.
Object
Cypriot amphora with a Phoenician inscription
A Cypriot vessel, a Phoenician inscription and a findspot nobody recorded: one object that teaches us to separate what is written on it from where it came from.
Object
Lachish Letter VIII
A sherd of a pottery vessel with a Hebrew inscription in ink, found at Lachish and on display today in London. The ink is very faded, the record gives no numeric date, and it must not be confused with Letter II.
Text frame in place of a photograph
PotteryLength 6.40 cm; width 9.50 cm; thickness 0.30-0.50 cm
The source states no licence for its image, so it is not reproduced here
Object
The Ma'agan Mikhael ship
A small merchant ship discovered in 1985 off the Carmel coast, conserved for years and displayed today at the Hecht Museum. The date "about 400 BCE" is the museum's; the placement in the Persian period is ours.
Object
The Tel Dan stele: "House of David"
A fragment of a basalt stele with an Aramaic inscription, found at Tel Dan and held by the Israel Museum. The photograph here is a visitor's photograph from a temporary exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum in 2017 (CC BY-SA 4.0), not the record's image; the museum's own image is seen in the record.
Object
The ancient Galilee boat from Ginosar
A wooden boat exposed in 1986 on the bed of the Sea of Galilee, conserved for 14 years and displayed at the Yigal Allon Centre. The centre dates it "some 2,000 years ago": a wording without a range, so the boat is not placed on the timeline.