African Figurines Found in Negev Desert Christian Burial

Archaeology Magazine ^ | May 16, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Haaretz reports that archaeologists uncovered rare and somewhat perplexing figurines from two 1,500-year-old Christian burials at the site of Tel Malhata in the Negev Desert. The discovery was made during salvage excavations on the grounds of the Nevatim airbase, where previous archaeological work has revealed a rich history of human occupation from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period. During the latest excavations, teams located some 155 tombs, but two burials contained objects different from anything else found at the site -- bone and wooden figurines with facial features resembling Africans. Two of them were carved from ebony, a rare material found in southern India and Sri Lanka. These had been carefully placed in one grave containing the remains of a woman and a child, and in a second burial of another woman. Researchers think that the two women and the child may have been early Christian immigrants from Ethiopia who moved to the site between the fourth and the seventh century a.d. The objects have small perforations indicating that they were likely worn around the neck as pendants. These may have served as small mementos from home or possibly representations of ancestors.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; ebony; ethiopia; godsgravesglyphs; india; israel; negev; romanempire; srilanka; telmalhata

[SunkenCiv]

Heads of carved African figures

Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority

[SunkenCiv]

[Governor Dinwiddie]

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

If the objects are carved of ebony they might be Tamil. The bodies might be Syrian Christians of India.

[SunkenCiv]

Same thought here.

• Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt [12/03/2007]
• Tamil-Brahmi inscription on pottery found in Thailand [07/17/2006]
• Tamil Trade [09/11/2004]

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[oldasrocks]

You can find anything on Amazon and ship it anywhere.

[telescope115]

Interesting. Nice workmanship. Finding things is part of the battle. Learning the story of artifacts is the other, bigger part. Very fascinating. When I was a kid I wanted to be many things; an archaeologist was one of them. I might’ve made less than I ended up making in machine shops, but it would’ve been rewarding.

[tumblindice]

Impressive, Very Nice. Let’s See Paul Allen’s Carvings.

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.christies.com/en/events/visionary-the-paul-g-allen-collection/overview

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Now, if they’d dug these 2K old carvings *in* the Amazon, we’d have a whole different story...

[SunkenCiv]

Yup. North America tends to be kinda light in terms of surviving cultural remains, some of the Precolumbian cultures didn't even develop ceramics, still using gourds for everything, so nothing left behind but undifferentiated dust. And the ludicrous NAGPRA shouldn't have been passed in the first place, but should be revised or altogether repealed.