Israeli archaeologists working at the Hyrcania archaeological site in the Judean Desert have uncovered new evidence that commercialized merchandise targeting tourists and true believers is hardly a new phenomenon.
The discovery of 1,400-year-old trinkets, including flasks and other items associated with Jesus and various saints, reveals an early religious industry that sold such souvenirs to pilgrims visiting the Biblical Holy Land.
When Christianity became the Roman Empire’s dominant religion, it opened up a massive tourist trade in Israel, which locals could profit from. Among the artifacts recently discovered by researchers with the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was a Byzantine mold, used to produce small flasks bearing a cross and the slogan “Lord’s blessing from the holy places.”
Ancient Tourist Traps
Uncovered during the recently initiated third season at the Hyrcania site, these special flasks, called “ampullae,” were popular gifts mass-produced in a limestone mold. Evidence that such objects were commonly brought back from Israel is reflected in the discovery of a large cache of them in Monza Cathedral in Northern Italy, dating to the 6th and 7th centuries.
Despite their evident popularity, this is the first time such an item has been found at this specific site. Other items from the tourist trade at the site included gold coins, a ring, and a stone reliquary lid.
“These types of vessels were produced at the height of the Byzantine period in the Land of Israel, part of the flourishing Christian pilgrimage industry,” Archaeologist Michal Haber, co-director of the excavations, told The Times of Israel.
Hyrcania
Before Byzantine Christian monks settled the Hyrcania site in the 5th century, it already had quite a history. Between the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, the Hasmoneans first erected fortresses along their eastern border to protect it. Eventually, the Romans destroyed them, and Herod the Great later rebuilt them.
When Herod died, they were again abandoned at the end of the first century CE. The monastery built by the monks survived the Islamic conquest of the 7th century and endured more than 100 years before abandonment in the late 8th or early 9th centuries.
The discovery of the mold led archaeologists to believe that the monastery would have been a stop for pilgrims of the period. Although there is some uncertainty about the accuracy of this explanation, the team offered potential reasons for the monastery’s inclusion on pilgrims’ itineraries. First, it was located near a major road between the pilgrimage sites of the Holy Sabas monastery and Bethlehem. Additionally, two other pilgrimage sites, the Mount of the Scapegoat and the Mount of Temptation, were only a few kilometers away.
Evidence uncovered since 2023 indicates that the monastery housed substantial wealth, and in recent excavations, the coins, jewelry, and other similar objects were discovered in a collapsed section of the monastery.
The coins were from Constantinople and were minted from 4.5 grams of pure gold, featuring the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius on one side and a cross on the other. The ring was too small for a male monk, suggesting it had been worn by a woman and set with a yellow stone that may be citrine.
Controversy and Continued Work
The dig exists in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the West Bank. According to international law, Israel is technically only allowed to conduct salvage operations aimed at thwarting looters, not traditional academic digs in the region.
For close to a century, looters have frequently targeted the area, according to authorities. Hebrew University and the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator for Government Affairs in the Territories’ Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit are careful to depict the work as aimed at removing artifacts before looters can abscond with them.
Presently, work at the site is on hold, primarily due to inclement weather and flooding in the region. Nonetheless, the archaeologists working at Hyrcania are hopeful that further discoveries will help to further illuminate the monastery, as well as the region’s fortresses and other features.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.