From the Jerusalem Post:
A fragment of a glass bracelet inscribed with a seven-branched menorah from the Second Temple was discovered during Hanukka at an excavation in the Mount Carmel National Park, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.
According to a statement from the IAA, excavations were carried out there in recent weeks prior to the construction of a water reservoir for the city of Yokne’am, at the initiative of the Mekorot Company.
During the excavation, an industrial region and refuse pits were exposed which were part of a large settlement that existed in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods, during the end of the fourth Century and beginning of the fifth Century CE, the IAA said.
The excavation’s co-directors Limor Talmi and Dan Kirzne said in the statement that last Thursday they made the findings at the end of the dig.
“While examining the contents of one of the boxes, which contained hundreds of glass fragments that had been discarded in the refuse pit, we found to our surprise a small fragment of a bracelet,” they said in a joint statement.
“Naturally it was extremely dirty, but still, you could see it was decorated. After cleaning, we were excited to discover that the bracelet, which is made of turquoise colored glass, is decorated with symbols of the seven-branched menorah – the same menorah which according to tradition was kept alight in the Temple for eight days by means of a single cruse of oil.”
The full article considers various theories of the item’s significance and includes four photos.
UPDATE: Joseph Lauer has sent along a link to seven high-res photos.
Photo courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
