A Canaanite treasure,

a vase containing old jewelry

three thousand years

In summer 2010, a treasure trove of hundreds of pearls, earrings and rings was discovered at Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. The three-thousand-year-old vase was unearthed during excavations at this important archaeological site in the Jezreel Valley, between Jerusalem and Haifa. It contained a magnificent collection of Canaanite jewelry wrapped in cloth.

Image opposite: The pot in which the Canaanite jewels were hidden. © The Megiddo Expedition.

The discovery and dating of the treasure

Tel Megiddo, one of Israel's major archaeological sites, was a Canaanite city-state until the early 10th century BC, then an important trading center of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. The inventory included a thousand gold, silver and carnelian beads, eight moon-shaped earrings, a ring with a seal and an earring with goat motifs. The excavated clay vase first underwent six months of laboratory analysis to be carefully cleaned, before being examined by experts from Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology.
It was only when the external cleaning was complete that the jewels were extracted from the container by the team of Professor Israel Finkelstein, co-director of the Tel Megiddo excavations. According to the researchers' estimates, these pieces date from Iron Age I, i.e. around 1100 B.C. Some of them even appear to have come from Egypt.

Image opposite: an overview of Canaanite jewelry. © Dan Balilty. The Megiddo Expedition.

This collection probably belonged to a Canaanite resident of the house where it was found. The gold buckle decorated with goats is a unique piece, unknown to both Egyptian and Canaanite material cultures. Usually, in the presence of an original object, comparisons are made to better define its cultural and chronological context. But to date, nothing similar to this piece has been found.