Free Republic

Birdwatcher Alexander Ternopolsky made a remarkable discovery one day at the archaeological site of Tel Dor on Israel's Carmel Coast -- not a bird, but a rare Egyptian scarab seal. The stone scarab -- an ancient Egyptian object shaped like a scarab beetle -- belonged to a high-ranking official of the 13th Dynasty (18th-17th centuries B.C.E.) in Middle Kingdom Egypt... The name of the scarab's owner, his position, and ankh and djed symbols (representing eternal life and stability, respectively) are engraved on the Egyptian scarab seal. While the owner's name hasn't been deciphered yet, he is described on the scarab...

A rare bronze signet ring with the impression of the face of the Greek sun god, Apollo, has been discovered at Tel Dor, in northern Israel, by University of Haifa diggers. "A piece of high-quality art such as this, doubtlessly created by a top-of-the-line artist, indicates that local elites developing a taste for fine art and the ability to afford it were also living in provincial towns, and not only in the capital cities of the Hellenistic kingdoms," explains Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, who headed the excavations at Dor along...