Ancient Jerusalem gold rings mark rite of passage

Rings and bronze earrings discovered at the City of David site in the Jerusalem Walls National Park likely come from the early Hellenistic Period in Jerusalem. Reasearchers suggests that two rings may be connected to a coming-of-age ritual for young women before marriage. Found in the building’s foundations, the objects were placed there in the context of executing a well-known Hellenistic period custom in which betrothed women would bury jewellery and other childhood objects in the house foundations as a symbol of the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Jewellery design may have been influenced by trade with the dominant empires at the time. Jewellery that combines gold with bright colour gemstones was a fashion inspired by places such as India and Persia.