An extraordinary archaeological discovery in central Israel has revealed a rare set of Roman-era bronze discs, shaped as lion heads and dating back around 1,900 years ago.
The ornate artifacts, likely once attached to coffin handles, offer a glimpse into ancient burial customs and the status of the deceased. The find was recently published for the first time in ‘Atiqot, the Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) archaeological journal.
The four bronze discs were unearthed in 2018 during a salvage excavation at Khirbat Ibreika, near the Eyal Interchange in central Israel. The excavation was carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority and led by Dr. Elie Haddad and Elisheva Zwiebel.
“This is a unique and rare set of finds,” Dr. Haddad and Zwiebel said in a joint statement. “The carrying handle ring, which was attached — in most of the known examples from the Roman world — through the lion’s mouth, was joined in this case precisely to the disc’s vertex, at the top of the lion’s head.
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