Jerusalem’s Oldest Gold Artifact

According to the book of Kings, the Phoenician monarch Hiram of Tyre was an ally of Kings David and Solomon and provided cedarwood and skilled craftsman for the construction of the First Temple. Outside of the Bible itself, there is little historical information about these 10th-century kings, or evidence of trade with cities like Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. An earring pendant from this era—discovered a decade ago in the ancient Jerusalem neighborhood known as the Ophel, but only recently studied by experts—proves a rare exception. Brent Nagtegaal writes: