An ancient lead talisman has been discovered in the rubble left over from an archaeological excavation conducted in the 1980s at Mount Ebal in Samaria, which researchers believe is the location of Joshua's Altar.
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The talisman was first identified a year ago during the process of sifting the rubble from the site.
This marks the first time an artifact bearing ancient Hebrew inscriptions has been located at Joshua's Altar, and researchers have dated it to 1,200 BCE. The inscription includes the early Hebrew version of the letter "aleph" and a symbol that resembles a lotus flower, but researchers have not yet completely determined its origin.
Head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan said that the talisman was proof of the Jewish people's deep connection to Samaria.
"The new findings unearthed at Mount Ebal prove again and again the deep and inviolable connection the Jewish people have to Samaria and the entire Land of Israel. The discovery of Joshua's Altar by the late archaeologist Professor Adam Zertal is one of the most important in the history of Land of Israel archaeology," Dagan said.
Zvi Koenigsberg, who helped Zertal with the excavations at the site in the 1980s, said, "After the excavation, we left mounds of rubble we had dug up. A group of Professor Zertal's friends moved them to a save place, where it was possible to investigate them. Years later, the appropriate tools with which to sift rubble were developed."
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