Jerusalem, 7 March, 2022 (TPS) — Hundreds of ancient finds, including rare bone and ivory artifacts from the biblical period, were seized during an operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) Robbery Prevention Unit and Jerusalem’s police against a resident of the city suspected of illegal trade in antiquities
Rare and decorated bone and ivory items from the biblical period and ancient bowls dating back some 1,500 years, bearing spells and incantations in Hebrew, hundreds of antique coins, glassware, and weapons were uncovered in the home of a resident of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem, suspected of illegal trade in antiquities.
The incantation bowls, known as the “swearing bowls” were used as a kind of amulet in ancient times, and date back to the 8th-4th centuries CE. It was common practice to bury them under the house floor for protection. Inside the bowls, magical inscriptions were written in the Babylonian-Aramaic language. The inscription in the bowl was meant to fight curses, demons, diseases, and pests.
Amir Ganor, head of the Antiquities Authority’s Robbery Prevention Unit, explained Monday that bowls of this type came from ancient sites in the area of Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq. The text was written by artists for a specific client, according to their personal needs. Occasionally, as seen on one of the bowls found in the possession of the suspect, a figure of the “night” demon was painted in the center of the bowl, representing the individual that the bowl was meant to ward off.
In 2003, following the war in Iraq, thousands of stolen “incantation bowls” began to enter international trade markets.
The IAA believes that the suspect repaired and restored the bowls to put them up for sale. Besides the antiquities, various chemicals were seized in his house, which were allegedly used in the restoration of the pottery, as well as for cleaning ancient metals and coins.
In addition to hundreds of coins, rare items from the biblical period were discovered in the suspect’s house, including bone and ivory objects decorated in the Phoenician style, and with Egyptian motifs that included scenes from the animal world alongside geometric ornaments.
One of the objects bears the image of two griffons, winged lions with human faces, facing each other. The second artifact included a description of a convoy of four-winged lions marching one after the other. Similar ivory objects have been discovered in past excavations in an antiquity site in Samaria, where a large collection of ivory known as “Samaria Ivories” was discovered, as well as at other antiquity sites such as Tel Megiddo.
These are decorative items that were attached to wooden furniture by nails in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Finding decorated artifacts made of ivory from this period is extremely rare, and the assessment at the IAA’s Robbery Prevention Unit is that the artifacts were excavated illegally in one of the archeological sites in Samaria, or in northern Israel.
“Antiquities belong to all of us. They are our heritage.” IAA Director Eli Eskosido stated. “Unauthorized antiquities dealers encourage looters to go out and destroy ancient sites in search of finds for sale on the antiquities market. In the name of greed, they plunder antiquity sites, removing the finds from their historical context, thus obscuring parts of human history”.
Documents were seized in the suspect’s home that may shed light about his connections with antiquities robbers and unauthorized dealers. Following the investigation of the suspect, IAA inspectors arrived at an auction house in the center of the country and seized additional ancient artifacts that had been put up for sale by the suspect, in violation of the law.
Among the finds were ancient weapons, glassware, and bronze and silver coins.
At the end of the investigation, the case file will be transferred to the Antiquities Authority Legal Bureau to examine the filing of an indictment concerning the attempted trade in antiquities without a permit, failure to report the discovery of an antique, failure to register a collection and possession of property suspected of being stolen, criminal offenses, for which the statutory penalty is up to three years in prison.
