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Iron Age II - King David and the First Temple Period
  • Bethlehem Bulla. Photo: Clara Amit. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
    Bethlehem Bulla. Photo: Clara Amit. Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
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Iron Age II - King David and the First Temple Period

Bethlehem Discovered in Jerusalem

Hundreds of First Temple-era clay seal impressions were discovered in excavations around the Gihon Spring in the City of David in the 1990s and the early 2000s. On one of these, the name of the city of Bethlehem appears. The excavators, Prof. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, believe that this seal impression was used as a kind of shipping certificate for merchandise sent from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem in the seventh year of his reign. This is the earliest extra-biblical evidence of the name of Bethlehem in an archaeological find.