VOLUME 66 • NUMBER 2 • 2016

CONTENTS

129 EHUD GALILI, ALLA YAROSHEVICH, BARUCH ROSEN, NIMROD GETZOV,

IANIR MILEVSKI, ESTELLE ORRELLE and LIORA KOLSKA HORWITZ:
Figurative Representations from Neveh Yam and Other Sites in Israel:
Markers of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic South Levant Cultures
I
E
J
Israel
151 DANIEL VAINSTUB and DAVID BEN-SHLOMO: A Hebrew Seal and an
Ostracon from Tel Hebron

161

177
ASSAF KLEIMAN, ADAM KAPLAN and ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN: Building 338
at Megiddo: New Evidence from the Field

LIORA FREUD: A Note on Sixth-Century BCE Phoenician Chalice-Shaped

Vessels from Judah
Exploration
188 SUEMBIKYA I. FRUMIN and YANA TCHEKHANOVETS: Plant Imprints on
Pottery Reveal Fig Tree in Hellenistic Jerusalem

202

220
YUVAL GADOT and YONATAN ADLER: A Quantitative Analysis of Jewish
Chalk Vessel Frequencies in Early Roman Jerusalem: A View from the
City’s Garbage Dump

RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN and UZI LEIBNER: An Amulet from Khirbet Wadi
Journal
¡amam

232 LILY SINGER-AVITZ: Khirbet Qeiyafa: Late Iron Age I in Spite of It All —
Once Again

245 NOTES AND NEWS

248 REVIEWS

250 HEBREW BOOKS AND PAPERS

Page layout by Avraham Pladot

Typesetting by Marzel A.S. — Jerusalem 66 VOLUME 66 • NUMBER 2
Printed by Old City Press, Jerusalem 2 JERUSALEM, ISRAEL • 2016
ISRAEL EXPLORATION JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Published twice yearly by the Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of AJA American Journal of Archaeology
Archaeology of the Hebrew University, with the assistance of the Nathan AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
Davidson Publication Fund in Archaeology, Samis Foundation, Seattle WA, ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament3, ed. J.B. Pritchard,
and Dorot Foundation, Providence RI Princeton, 1969
BA The Biblical Archaeologist
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Founders BT Babylonian Talmud
A. Reifenberg, D. Amiran CAD Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
DSD Dead Sea Discoveries
Former Editors
EI Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies
Michael Avi-Yonah, Dan Barag, Jonas C. Greenfield, Baruch A. Levine, ESI Excavations and Surveys in Israel
Amihai Mazar, Miriam Tadmor IAA Reports Israel Antiquities Authority Reports
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
Editorial Board JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
Shmuel A¢ituv, Aren M. Maeir and Zeev Weiss, Editors JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
Tsipi Kuper-Blau, Executive Editor JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Joseph Aviram, President, Israel Exploration Society JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
KAI W. Donner and W. Röllig: Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften 1–3,
Wiesbaden, 1962–1964; 15, 2002
The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (English
Editorial Advisory Board NEAEHL
Edition), Jerusalem, 1993
Gideon Avni, Ofer Bar-Yosef, Shlomo Bunimovitz, Israel Ephªal,
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
Baruch A. Levine, Amihai Mazar, Ronny Reich, Myriam Rosen-Ayalon PT Palestinian Talmud
QDAP Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine
RA Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale
IEJ is now available online on JSTOR RB Revue Biblique
RE Pauly-Wissowa’s Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RQ Revue de Qumran
Email: iej.editors@gmail.com VT Vetus Testamentum
Books for review: Israel Exploration Journal, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem 91070, ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
Israel ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins
Guidelines: http://israelexplorationsociety.huji.ac.il

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Copyright © 2016 Israel Exploration Society
ISSN 0021-2059
The Editors are not responsible for opinions expressed by the contributors
2017: $73 including postage or equivalent payable to
the Israel Exploration Society, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem 91070, Israel.
All subscribers are entitled to a 25% reduction on the publications of the Society.
Subscribers should give full name and postal address when paying their
subscription, and should send notice of change of address at least five weeks before
it is to take effect; the old as well as the new address should be given.
Single issue: $37 or equivalent.
VOLUME 66 • NUMBER 2 • 2016

CONTENTS

129 EHUD GALILI, ALLA YAROSHEVICH, BARUCH ROSEN, NIMROD GETZOV,

IANIR MILEVSKI, ESTELLE ORRELLE and LIORA KOLSKA HORWITZ:
Figurative Representations from Neveh Yam and Other Sites in Israel:
Markers of the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic South Levant Cultures
I
E
J
Israel
151 DANIEL VAINSTUB and DAVID BEN-SHLOMO: A Hebrew Seal and an
Ostracon from Tel Hebron

161

177
ASSAF KLEIMAN, ADAM KAPLAN and ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN: Building 338
at Megiddo: New Evidence from the Field

LIORA FREUD: A Note on Sixth-Century BCE Phoenician Chalice-Shaped

Vessels from Judah
Exploration
188 SUEMBIKYA I. FRUMIN and YANA TCHEKHANOVETS: Plant Imprints on
Pottery Reveal Fig Tree in Hellenistic Jerusalem

202

220
YUVAL GADOT and YONATAN ADLER: A Quantitative Analysis of Jewish
Chalk Vessel Frequencies in Early Roman Jerusalem: A View from the
City’s Garbage Dump

RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN and UZI LEIBNER: An Amulet from Khirbet Wadi
Journal
¡amam

232 LILY SINGER-AVITZ: Khirbet Qeiyafa: Late Iron Age I in Spite of It All —
Once Again

245 NOTES AND NEWS

248 REVIEWS

250 HEBREW BOOKS AND PAPERS

Page layout by Avraham Pladot

Typesetting by Marzel A.S. — Jerusalem 66 VOLUME 66 • NUMBER 2
Printed by Old City Press, Jerusalem 2 JERUSALEM, ISRAEL • 2016
ISRAEL EXPLORATION JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Published twice yearly by the Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of AJA American Journal of Archaeology
Archaeology of the Hebrew University, with the assistance of the Nathan AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
Davidson Publication Fund in Archaeology, Samis Foundation, Seattle WA, ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament3, ed. J.B. Pritchard,
and Dorot Foundation, Providence RI Princeton, 1969
BA The Biblical Archaeologist
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Founders BT Babylonian Talmud
A. Reifenberg, D. Amiran CAD Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
DSD Dead Sea Discoveries
Former Editors
EI Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies
Michael Avi-Yonah, Dan Barag, Jonas C. Greenfield, Baruch A. Levine, ESI Excavations and Surveys in Israel
Amihai Mazar, Miriam Tadmor IAA Reports Israel Antiquities Authority Reports
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
Editorial Board JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
Shmuel A¢ituv, Aren M. Maeir and Zeev Weiss, Editors JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
Tsipi Kuper-Blau, Executive Editor JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
Joseph Aviram, President, Israel Exploration Society JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
KAI W. Donner and W. Röllig: Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften 1–3,
Wiesbaden, 1962–1964; 15, 2002
The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (English
Editorial Advisory Board NEAEHL
Edition), Jerusalem, 1993
Gideon Avni, Ofer Bar-Yosef, Shlomo Bunimovitz, Israel Ephªal,
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
Baruch A. Levine, Amihai Mazar, Ronny Reich, Myriam Rosen-Ayalon PT Palestinian Talmud
QDAP Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine
RA Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale
IEJ is now available online on JSTOR RB Revue Biblique
RE Pauly-Wissowa’s Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RQ Revue de Qumran
Email: iej.editors@gmail.com VT Vetus Testamentum
Books for review: Israel Exploration Journal, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem 91070, ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
Israel ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins
Guidelines: http://israelexplorationsociety.huji.ac.il

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Copyright © 2016 Israel Exploration Society
ISSN 0021-2059
The Editors are not responsible for opinions expressed by the contributors
2017: $73 including postage or equivalent payable to
the Israel Exploration Society, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem 91070, Israel.
All subscribers are entitled to a 25% reduction on the publications of the Society.
Subscribers should give full name and postal address when paying their
subscription, and should send notice of change of address at least five weeks before
it is to take effect; the old as well as the new address should be given.
Single issue: $37 or equivalent.
 An Amulet from Khirbet Wadi ¡amam
RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN UZI LEIBNER
Tel Aviv University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

ABSTRACT: This article describes an amulet in the shape of a thin copper plaque
that was found on the floor of a domestic structure at Khirbet Wadi ¡amam in the
eastern Lower Galilee. It contains an engraved five-line inscription with a
sequence of magic signs and a few Hebrew (or pseudo-Hebrew) letters. Dated to
the first half of the fourth century CE, the amulet is the earliest example of its type
known to date from a Jewish context. Its meaning, use and place in the develop-
ment of such amulets are discussed, as well as its date and the stratigraphic context
in which it was found.

INTRODUCTION
KHIRBET Wadi ¡amam is a large Roman-period village located above Na¢al
Arbel, some 2 km west of the Sea of Galilee. Extensive excavations were conducted
at the site from 2007 to 2012 in four areas. In total, some ten residential structures,
two olive-oil presses, alleyways and a monumental synagogue were uncovered.1
Two main strata were identified. The early one (stratum 3) dates from the Early
Roman period. The rich assemblages of artefacts from this period and the range
and quality of private construction suggest that this was the most prosperous phase
of the village. This affluent phase came to an abrupt end in a massive destruction,
dated on the basis of coin hoards to the reign of Hadrian, c. 125–135 CE (Leibner
and Bijovsky 2013). Subsequently, the site may have been abandoned for a few
decades or at least suffered a serious decline. Extensive evidence of habitation and
the massive construction of new structures appear after a gap of several decades,
and this new phase (stratum 2) spans the third and fourth centuries CE.

THE STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT

Area C is located on a steep slope descending towards Na¢al Arbel, at the southern-

1 The excavations were conducted on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Exploration Society and were funded by
the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 912/09). We wish to thank M. Lavi of the
Restoration and Conservation Laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology for opening
and cleaning the amulet, N. Yahalom-Mack for the metallurgical analysis, G. Bijovsky
for identifying the coins, R. Sabar for preparing the pottery table and G. Laron and T.
Rogovski for the photographs. Thanks are also due to A. Yardeni, with whom we
discussed palaeographic aspects, and to G. Bohak for his insights regarding ancient
magic.

IEJ 66 (2016): 220–231 220

 AN AMULET FROM KHIRBET WADI ¡AMAM 221

most edge of the site. Remains of a few domestic structures of both strata were
uncovered in this area, with some of the walls surviving to heights of 1.5–2 m. On
the upper western terrace, a domestic complex of stratum 2 was buried under a
huge collapse of building stones and boulders, perhaps due to an earthquake (see
below). The structure (fig. 1) contained a small paved courtyard that opened on
the west to a dwelling (A), on the northeast to a narrow room (B) and on the north-
west to an inner courtyard (C) leading to another dwelling. The latter courtyard

Fig. 1. Plan of the structure on the upper terrace in Area C; the amulet was found in
L.3C006

(3×3 m) had a beaten-earth floor, an opening to an underground bell-shaped

chamber and a long stone-built shelf divided into compartments along the north-
ern wall, possibly for placing storage vessels. A doorway in the western wall,
which survived intact with both door jambs and the lintel, leads into another room,
not excavated (fig. 2).
The amulet under discussion was found in an accumulation of brown soil
beneath the collapse that covered this inner courtyard, immediately above the
floor (L.3C006). The latest dateable finds in this locus included a fragment of a
‘Jebel Jofeh’ oil lamp, dated roughly to the third century (Harding 1950), a coin of
Constantine the Great (307–337 CE ) and many pottery vessels of types common
222 RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN AND UZI LEIBNER

Fig. 2. The inner courtyard where the amulet was found (view to the west) (photo: G.
Laron)

in fourth-century assemblages (fig. 3). These vessels include many local forms
(according to the classification of Adan-Bayewitz 1993): Kefar ¡ananya (hence-
forth KH) cooking pots (forms KH4c, KH4d) and bowls (form KH1e); shallow
casseroles with heavy horizontal handles (form C3a); neckless ribbed cooking
pots with heavy handles and a broad everted rim (form C4a); globular ribbed
cooking pots with a tall neck and an exterior ridge below the rim (form C4b); and
various Late Roman and Early Byzantine storage jars. Of special interest is an
imported African Red Slipped bowl (Hayes form 58), dated to c. 290–375 CE.
This and a similar bowl from dwelling A of this structure are the only imported
fine-ware vessels found in Area C. The L.3C006 assemblage is similar to those
recovered in loci beneath the collapse in the House of Dionysos at Sepphoris, a
destruction attributed to the earthquake of 363 CE (Balouka 1999: 83–87; 2004:
44–45).
Although some of the pottery vessels recovered from Area C continue to
appear in fifth-century contexts, the assemblage as a whole clearly dates from the
decades around the mid-fourth century, with no dateable material that must be
later. In addition to pottery vessels of the above-mentioned types, the latest finds
in the area include a dozen coins from the House of Constantine, the latest of
which are issues of Constantius II (337–61 CE; see table 1). This is in sharp
contrast to the finds in other excavated areas, where many late fourth-century
 AN AMULET FROM KHIRBET WADI ¡AMAM 223

Fig. 3. Pottery from the accumulation above the inner courtyard floor (L.3C006)

minimi coins were recovered, as well as late fourth–early fifth-century ceramic

fine-ware imports, such as African Red Slip form 61 and Cypriot Red Slip form 1
(Hayes 1972: 100–107; 1980: 528). The combination of the ceramic types and
the coins enables us to date the abandonment of area C, located on the periphery of
the village, to the decades around the mid-fourth century, possibly following the
363 CE earthquake.
224 RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN AND UZI LEIBNER

Fig. 3. Pottery from the accumulation above the inner courtyard floor (L.3C006)

No. Basket Type Description Parallels

1 B.3C0017/1 Bowl KH1e Thickened, rounded rim, Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
slanted walls, ribbed inte- 103–109; Loffreda
rior; brownish-orange 2008: 202–206;
ware Balouka 2013: 33–34
2 B.3C0033/2 Bowl KH1e As above As above
3 B.3C0030/11 Bowl ARS Short flat, everted, Hayes 1972: 93–96
58 downturned rim, curved
wall; light red ware, matte
red slip on interior
4 B.3C0017/6 Casserole Flat, narrow, horizontal Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
KH3b ledged rim, sharp carina- 119–124; Loffreda
tion at shoulder; brownish- 2008: 199–200;
orange ware, black and Balouka 2013: 28
white grits
5 B.3C0026/1 Casserole As above As above
KH3b
6 B.3C0026/11 Casserole Cut, slanted rim, heavy Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
C3a horizontal handles; sandy, 156–159; Loffreda
reddish-brown ware, a few 2008: 207; Balouka
white grits 2013: 30–31
7 B.3C0033/24 Casserole As above As above
C3a
8 B.3C0026/5 Cooking Short neck, two shallow Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
pot KH4c grooves on rim, thin walls; 128–130; Balouka
brownish-orange ware 2013: 22
9 B.3C0033/10 Cooking As above As above
pot KH4c
10 B.3C0030/12 Cooking Plain rim, short straight Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
pot KH4d neck, relatively thick 130–132; Balouka
walls; brownish-orange 2013: 23–24
ware, black and white grits
11 B.3C0033/15 Cooking As above As above
pot KH4d
12 B.3C0022 Cooking Holemouth, wide, flat, Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
pot C4a everted, upturned rim, no 159–162; Loffreda
neck; sandy, brownish-red 2008: 185–186;
ware, white grits Balouka 2013: 25
13 B.3C0030/6 Cooking As above As above
pot C4a
 AN AMULET FROM KHIRBET WADI ¡AMAM 225

Fig. 3. (continued)
No. Basket Type Description Parallels
14 B.3C0026/6 Cooking Exterior ridge below the Adan-Bayewitz 1993:
pot C4b rim, tall neck; sandy, 162–164; Loffreda
brownish-red ware, white 2008: 184; Balouka
grits 2013: 23–24
15 B.3C0026/9 Cooking Plain rim and short neck; Loffreda 2008: 186 (?)
pot BYZ sandy, brownish-red ware,
gray core, white grits
16 B.3C0030/5 Storage jar Pale brown-orange ware, Meyers, Strange and
diamond- white grits Meyers 1981: 60–69;
rim Balouka 2013: 40 (SJ8)
17 B.3C0033/22 Storage jar Flat rim, short straight Balouka 2013: 40–41
LR neck; pale orange ware, a (SJ9)
few white grits
18 B.3C0033/23 Storage jar Thickened everted rim; Loffreda 2008:
MR-LR pale brown ware 119–120; Balouka
2013: 38 (SJ3)
19 B.3C0017/5 Storage jar Thick rounded rim, slanted Loffreda 2008: 124
BYZ neck with ridge at the (type 31)
base; reddish-brown ware,
white grits
20 B.3C0026/10 Storage jar Short thick neck; brown Loffreda 2008: 124
BYZ ware, black and white grits (type 35)

Table 1. Latest coins from Area C

Locus Basket Ruler Date of Coin Mint

L.3C002 3C0048/02 Galerius Maximianus 308 Antioch
L.3C001 3C0046 Galerius Maximianus 311 Alexandria
L.3C999 3C0028 Constantius I 295–99 Cyzicus
L.3C019 3C0077/02 Constantinus I 316 Arles
L.3C002 3C0015/01 Constantinus I 330–35 Cyzicus
L.3C006 3C0026 Constantinus I 330–35 Antioch
L.3C005 3C0019/02 Constantinus II 330–35 Nicomedia
L.3C001 3C0041/02 Constantius II 330–35 Antioch
L.3C018 3C0072 Constantius II 337–41 Antioch
L.3C999 3C0097/01 Constantius II 341–46 Antioch
L.3C001 3C0041/01 House of Constantine VRBS ROMA 330–35 Nicomedia
L.3C999 3C0103 Constantius II 351–61
226 RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN AND UZI LEIBNER

THE AMULET
During excavation of the inner courtyard (C), a small metal object (fig. 4) was
discovered in the accumulation above
the floor (L.3C006, B.3C0017). Care-
ful examination revealed that the object
was, in fact, a rolled amulet (11×5 cm)
in a tubular metal case (6×2 cm).
The amulet is a thin metal plaque
(lamella), inscribed with Hebrew-like
letters and other signs. While it
contains no certain legible letters or
text, it is nevertheless safe to identify it
as a magic amulet, based on compari-
son with contemporary inscribed Fig. 4. The rolled amulet after opening the
amulets that share the same technical tubular case (photo: M. Lavi)
features. 2

A metallurgic analysis conducted by N. Yahalom-Mack revealed that both the

amulet and the case were made of 99% copper with a minimal amount of tin and
lead (1%). The fact that they are of the same material suggests that they were cut
from the same piece of metal. A tin and lead alloy was also used to carefully solder
the edges of the amulet case. It is possible that the tube was originally attached to a
wire or the like, enabling it to be worn on the body as part of a necklace or brace-
let. This was the most common use of inscribed metal-plaque amulets, as can be
seen in several Fayyum mummy portraits3 and as explictly instructed in some
ancient magical recipes.4
The lamella has five lines of inscription along its length (figs. 5–6), probably
engraved with a sharp stylus or similar device. Due to the thinness and softness of
the plaque, the writing, in negative, is visible on the back side as well. The upper
part of the rolled amulet has been damaged; consequently, the first line is shallow
and difficult to read. Unfortunately, only a few signs can be recognized as Hebrew

2 The main collection of Jewish rolled lamellae amulets was published by Naveh and
Shaked 1993; 1998. Since these publications, further bibliography is found in Eshel
and Leiman 2010.
3 Some Fayyum mummy portraits depict the deceased with a cylindrical metal capsule
at the neck. Actual capsules, similar to the ones in pictorial representation and
containing rolled metal amulets, have been found in archaeological excavations, e.g.,
Thompson 1982: no. 5.
4 For magical instructions on wearing lamellae on the body, see Papyri Graecae
Magicae (PGM) X.24–35 (Betz 1992: 149, translation by R.F. Hock), Sefer Harazim
(Rebiger and Schäfer 2009: 134 = Margalioth 1966: 84): íéøéè÷øëäå íéëàìîä áåúëå
çìöú êéìò àåäù íéîé ìëå êáì çåì ìò íðúå óñëìù ñèá äìàä.
 AN AMULET FROM KHIRBET WADI ¡AMAM 227

Fig. 5. The amulet after it was unrolled (photo: T. Rogovski)

Fig. 6. The amulet (drawing: R. Elitzur Leiman)

letters, or at least pseudo-Hebrew signs, and most of the inscription is to be under-

stood as a sequence of magic signs.

Line 2 contains several recognizable Hebrew letters:

ù íù íùá ,(magic signs) íù
name (magic signs), in the name, name
If this reading is correct, it is in keeping with the phraseology of incantations and
228 RIVKA ELITZUR LEIMAN AND UZI LEIBNER

spells. The phrase ‘in the name’ often occurs in Jewish amulets from late antiq-
uity.5
Line 3 contains a series of six pseudo-letters. Although one may find some simi-
larities to Hebrew letters, the signs show too many anomalies, and therefore
should be considered to be magic signs.
Lines 4–5 contain a repetitive pattern of signs in the shape of a thunderbolt. This
may be a rather crude representation of a ‘Chnubis’ sign, a magic symbol usually
appearing on gems.6

While interpretations can be suggested for some of the letters and letter-like signs
in the amulet, it should be noted that the amulet is composed mostly of signs
whose subjective meaning (if there was one) for the amulet’s scribe or owner is
unknown to us. This does not, however, negate the identification of the object as a
magic amulet. Amulets written on metal plaques often include magic signs
accompanying the textual incantations, a phenomenon known to us from the
Greek magical world as well as the Jewish one (Kotansky 1994: nos. 34, 46;
Naveh and Shaked 1993; 1998: A4, A8, A14, A21). In some cases, the amulet is
engraved exclusively with magic signs and includes no text at all.7
We can only imagine the story behind the production of this exceptional
amulet. Was the scribe illiterate, attempting to copy letters and signs that he was
unable to read? Or perhaps he used his knowledge of magic to write a proper
formula of magic signs, which today we are unable to interpret? Whatever the
case, it is likely that the customer for whom the amulet was prepared received it as
a finished product — an amulet of a rolled piece of copper inside a little copper
case — and had no idea what was written inside.
The discovery of the amulet at the site of Khirbet Wadi ¡amam, clearly a
Jewish settlement with a synagogue at its centre, bears significant implications for
our understanding of Jewish metal amulets from the Byzantine period. From the
many dozens of amulets of this type known today, only 26 were found in archaeo-
logical excavations.8 Of these, 22 were discovered in synagogues: 19 in a single
5 See, e.g., Naveh and Shaked 1993: 274, íùá and íù in the glossary.
6 We would like to thank G. Bohak for this suggestion. The image of Chnubis, the lion-
headed snake depicted on magic amulets for stomach pains, was commonly accompa-
nied with the triple thunderbolt, usually referred to as the ‘Chnubis sign’; see Bonner
1950: 54–60; Bohak 1997. For Chnubis signs inscribed on lamella-amulets, see, e.g.,
Kotansky 1994: no. 3.
7 The following examples are especially noteworthy: the reverse of a silver amulet from
Samaria (Müller-Kessler, Mitchell and Hockey 2007), gold lamellae from Cologne
and Limoges, France (Kotansky 1994: nos. 6, 10), and a silver lamella at the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum (Jordan 1978).
8 For the published amulets, see above, n. 2. For amulets excavated in Israel, see Eshel
and Leiman 2010.
 AN AMULET FROM KHIRBET WADI ¡AMAM 229

cache in the apse of the synagogue of Nirim, where the ark stood (Naveh and
Shaked 1998: A11–A13) and the others under the building’s floor at Barªam
(Naveh 2001) and under the threshold at Meroth (Naveh and Shaked 1993: A16).
The additional four amulets were uncovered in various contexts, such as a dwell-
ing in Khirbet Kanaf (Naveh and Shaked 1993: A15–A16), a public structure at
Sepphoris (McCollough and Glazier-McDonald 1997; 1999), and a tomb in
Samaria (Müller-Kessler, Mitchell and Hockey 2007).
The amulet from Khirbet Wadi ¡amam, like that from Khirbet Kanaf, was
found in a domestic structure, as opposed to most of the other excavated amulets
of this type, which were recovered in public buildings; these two may, therefore,
have served a different purpose.
To date, most of the excavated amulets are dated between the late fourth and
the early seventh century CE. The earliest known amulet is that from Samaria,
which is dated to the fourth or fifth century CE.9 The amulet from Khirbet Wadi
¡amam, from a structure abandoned in the mid-fourth century, has a terminus
ante quem of c. 363 CE. This leads us quite confidently to a slightly earlier dating
for the use of lamellae amulets among the Jewish population in Palestine than
previously assumed. The fact that the earliest of these amulets (excluding those of
Ketef Hinnom) is inscribed only with magic signs and with hardly recognizable
letters might reflect the development of this practice: from pictorial signs and
pseudo-letters in the beginning to skillfully written Aramaic texts at later periods.
Considering the small number of well-dated amulets of this kind at our disposal,
however, this suggestion remains for the time being speculative.10

REFERENCES
Adan-Bayewitz, D.
1993 Common Pottery in Roman Galilee, Ramat Gan
Balouka, M.
1999 The Evidence for the Existence of an Earthquake in the Year 363 and the Transition
from the Roman Period to the Byzantine Period according to the Archaeological

9 While discussing Jewish lamellae amulets, we cannot ignore the earliest evidence for
the use of this kind of amulet among the Jewish population — two silver amulets from
Ketef Hinnom (Jerusalem), found in a tomb dated to the eighth or seventh century
BCE. These amulets were inscribed with palaeo-Hebrew letters hundreds of years
before the Byzantine period, which saw the flourishing of this phenomenon (Yardeni
1991; Barkay 1992; Barkay et al. 2004). To date, no further amulets of this type have
been found to fill the substantial chronological gap; thus, the Iron Age Ketef ¡innom
amulets must be considered an exceptional early example, to be differentiated from
the group of amulets from the Byzantine period.
10 We thank the anonymous reviewer of the manuscript for this suggestion. For further
discussion on the development of Jewish amulet writing, see Bohak 2014: 248–250.
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