2,700-year-old shekel weight found in Western Wall excavations

A small, dome-shaped 23-gram weight made of limestone, dating back to the 10th century BCE, was discovered in excavations near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, according to an Oct. 13 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release.

The weight has "an incised Egyptian symbol resembling a Greek gamma (γ), representing the abbreviated unit [for] ‘shekel,’" Dr. Barak Monnickendam-Givon and Tehillah Lieberman, directors of the excavation, said in the release. Next to the gamma are "two incised lines" that "indicate the double mass: two shekalim."

The Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting the archeological dig, working with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

Previous archeological discoveries had found that a single shekel weighed 11.5 grams. The shekel weight was used in international trade by many ancient peoples in the area, including Moabites, Edomites and Phoenicians. It measured the weight of products, such as spices, in the marketplace.

The shekel weight was also used during the Jewish First Temple era (assumed to be circa 957 to 586 BCE) to collect an annual half-shekel tax per capita that went to the upkeep of the Temple and sacrifices, the IAA press release said.

"The accuracy of the weight," the excavation directors stated, "attests to advanced technological skills as well as to the weight given to precise trade and commerce in ancient Jerusalem. Coins were not yet in use during this period, therefore accuracy of the weights played a significant role in business."

The weight system for international trade originated in Egypt and was based on units of eight, instead of the more familiar 10 of the decimal system, Monnickendam-Givon told the Times of Israel.

He also told the Times that the two-shekel weight's inscription provided a poor rendition of the international Egyptian symbol used to indicate a shekel weight. 

It's a "very rare" example of poor craftsmanship, Monnickendam-Givon said. But, he said, it indicates that the weight was locally made. The weight usually has a rounded shekel inscription, and this one has a triangle shape, he told the Times.

The word shekel comes from the root word for "weighing," found in Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew and other Semitic languages. Shekel became the name of coin currency in the ancient cities of Tyre, Carthage and later Israel. Usually the coins were made of silver.

A political flashpoint 

The area of the First Temple, also known as Temple Mount, has religious significance for Christians, Jews and Muslims. In recent decades it has become a political flashpoint.

Israel began excavations at the site after capturing East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in the 1967 Six-Day War.

It is believed to be the site of the First Temple, built by King Solomon. It is also the site of the Western Wall or Wailing Wall, revered by Jews as the only remaining wall of the Second Temple, built circa 516 BCE and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

For Muslims, the site is believed to be where Muhammad ascended to heaven. It includes the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.