Amanda Borschel-Dan is The Times of Israel s Jewish World and Archaeology editor.
2,700-year-old clay sealing from a stamp from the Israelite King Jeroboam II in the 8th century BCE. (Dani Machlis/Ben Gurion University)
What is arguably the earliest inscribed clay seal impression from the Land of Israel used at the court of Israelite King Jeroboam II has been authenticated after years of strict laboratory testing under the supervision of Ben-Gurion University Prof. Yuval Goren. The inscribed clay, known as a bulla, was purchased without provenance from a Bedouin antiquities merchant in the 1980s and is now thought to be from Jeroboam II’s 8th century BCE reign.