posted by Brent Nagtegaal

JERUSALEM—During the last days of the kingdom of Judah, the Prophet Jeremiah warned the residents of Jerusalem of their impending captivity at the hands of the Babylonian army. But instead of heeding that warning message, the princes of King Zedekiah’s administration attacked the messenger and plunged him into the depths of a miry dungeon (Jeremiah 38:1-6).

One of these princes was Gedaliah the son of Pashur. It was this man’s own seal that we unearthed this year in the excavations in the City of David, specifically in Dr. Eilat Mazar’s Area G.

You may recall how the 2007 excavation season started. Last summer, Edwin Trebels and I were working in the office with Dr. Mazar when the opportunity arose to go back to the dig site to help dismantle a small 2,500-year-old tower that was falling down. It was supposed to be just a three-week venture. The tower was resting over and against the first temple period wall of the Large Stone Structure, or King David’s palace. We initially thought we could take a couple courses off the tower down to the point where it was stable and then reconstruct it.

Area G was the soil in between the Stepped Stone Structure (what I’m standing on) and the concrete on the right. Nehemiah’s tower stood above this area.

But as more layers were removed, it became evident this was not going to be the case. We eventually realized that while the northern part of the tower was built close to the bedrock, the southern part was built on earth. We couldn’t reconstruct the tower on this loose fill of soil because it would just collapse once again. The decision was made to continue to go deeper, and the area under the southern part of the tower became known as Area G.

So, what started out as a seemingly simple reconstruction job opened up into a small excavation of massive significance!

Discovery One: Nehemiah’s Tower

As most of you probably know, archaeologists use pottery as a method of dating soil fill. What does pottery have to do with it, you might ask? Well, pottery changes throughout the different time periods and after major events in history. Knowing how the pottery changes and what is typical of certain periods allows an archaeologist to date the walls or buildings it touches—as it was with this tower.

As we excavated underneath the tower we were shocked to find that the latest pottery we found was dated to the Persian period (the period of time when the Jewish remnant returned to Jerusalem). We were expecting to find pottery dating to the Hellenistic period (we previously thought the tower was dated to the later Hellenistic period), but we couldn’t find any. We did find two dogs, laid out beautifully in the soil directly under the tower. All of this led us to believe we had actually found part of the wall that Nehemiah built around Jerusalem in 52 days. None of this wall had previously been detected in Jerusalem—but now it has.

Discovery Two: The Seal of Shlomit

After a small stint back in the office, we resumed excavation under Nehemiah’s tower in layers of soil fill. Every single bucket of soil removed from underneath this tower was wet sifted. Wet sifting simply involves placing a bucket of soil on top of a large sieve and then spraying the soil with water. While most excavations will dry sift the soil, we decided to wet sift all the soil to make sure we didn’t mistake something special for a clump of dirt.

One item found in one of the upper layers was a beautiful seal you can see here. Inscribed on the seal is the name Shlomit, which was in common use during the period of Zerubbabel. While we cannot be sure of the personality of the name, it is logical to think that he or she was someone well known. For example, if I were to make a seal for myself I couldn’t just put “Brent” on it, because no one would know who that was. I am not famous enough. I would have to write Brent Nagtegaal, because there would be no point in having a mark if no one could recognize it. Shlomit, however, was famous enough that people knew who he or she was even without a last name. So was there someone famous around at the time of the rebuilding of the second temple by the name of Shlomit? Yes there was! Shlomit, the daughter of Zerubbabel, is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:19. While it is impossible to prove this was her seal, it very well may have been.

Discovery Three: Gedaliah, Son of Pashur

This latest released find is a bulla, or clay impression, created by the seal of Gedaliah the son of Pashur. He was a prince in the court of Zedekiah who actually had a part in condemning Jeremiah to the pit because of his warning message. The princes hated hearing of their impending destruction and chose to silence Jeremiah rather than listen to the message.

This bulla, measuring just over a centimeter (nearly half inch) was found in the lower layers of Area G. While the bulla was found in wet sifting by the eyes of one of the staff, the area from which it came from dates directly to the end of the Iron Age, which includes the kingship of Zedekiah.

So, if we are digging in a period dated to the time before the captivity of Judah and we find the seal of a man recorded in the Bible who lived during that time, could it be any plainer that this is Gedaliah, son of Pashur, from the Bible?

How exciting to think that the hand of this man recorded in the Bible pressed his seal against a piece of clay and that I could, over 2,500 years later, hold that same piece of clay in my hands!

It is amazing to think of all the discoveries uncovered by an excavation of such a small area! What started out as a short job of restoring a falling tower, truly has yielded finds of biblical proportions. We look forward to finding more!