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Friday, August 01, 2025

Sifting Project recovers Hebrew bulla bearing possibly biblical name

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: Tiny 2,600-year-old clay sealing inscribed with biblical name found in Temple Mount soil. Minuscule artifact discovered at the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Sifting Project may reference an official who worked for King Josiah and who appears in II Kings and II Chronicles (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).
A clay seal from the First Temple period bearing a Hebrew name that appears in the Bible has been uncovered by archaeologists at the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem, the organization announced on Tuesday.

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The original announcement from the Temple Mount Sifting Project Blog: HAS THE NAME OF KING JOSIAH’S TRUSTED OFFICIAL BEEN FOUND ON AN ANCIENT SEALING?
A rare seal impression on clay bearing the Hebrew name “Yed[a‛]yah (son of) Asayahu,” has recently been uncovered in the sifting. This exciting discovery raises the intriguing possibility of a direct link to a well-known biblical story: the finding of a sacred biblical law scroll during the reign of King Josiah of Judah, just years before the destruction of Jerusalem’s First Temple.
Could there have been more than one royal offical named Asayah(u) in the final generation of the Judean monarchy? Sure. But this bulla could well be from a seal belonging to the biblical official.

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