A two-shekel weight dating back 2,700 years to the time of the First Temple has been discovered near the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.
The round weight, made of limestone, turned up as excavated material from an IAA dig near Wilson's Arch was being sifted.
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The IAA is cooperating with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation on the excavation, which is part of the preparatory work in plans to build a new visitors' entrance to the Western Wall tunnels.
Dr. Barak Monnickendam-Givon and Tehillah Lieberman, who are overseeing the dig for the IAA, pointed out that the weight is rounded at one end with a flat bottom. The rounded end is incised with a sign that resembles the Hebrew letter Ayin, an Egyptian symbol that represents the word "shekel." Next to the symbol, they said, are two lines, indicating that this object is a double weight.
"In this period, silver coins were not used, so a precise measurement played a very important role in trade. Men and women would carry weights like this around, would go out shopping her in ancient Jerusalem 2,700 years ago. They used it to weight out precise amounts of spices or food," the archaeologists explained.
Earlier finds have established that the weight of a single shekel was 11.5 grams (0.4 ounces), so a double shekel should weigh 23 grams – which the newly-discovered weight does.
Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation Mordchai Eliav said, "How exciting, in the month of Tishrei, whose symbol is the scales of justice, to find a souvenir from the First Temple period.
"At this time, when visits to the Western Wall are so restricted due to the COVID pandemic, this discovery strengthens the eternal connection between the Jewish nation, Jerusalem, and the Western Wall while offering us all encouragement," Eliav said.
Part of this article is reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
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