Archeologists Find 2000+ Year Old Plant Mentioned Throughout Torah Inside Amethyst

Lilac amethyst stones are beautiful and rare, but the one recently found on an archeological excavation in Jerusalem has the distinction of being over 2,000 years old, and the oldest such sample to contain balsam, a plant that is mentioned in the Torah multiple times. The stone itself, which is just a third of an inch long, is thought to have been worn as part of a ring and features a bird and fruiting branch engraved on its surface. Excavations by the foundations of the Western Wall brought the stone to light. Experts say that the ring must have been dropped in the temple complex’s drainage channel before the fall of the second Beis HaMikdash. Balsam was known for making Perfume, incense, ointment and medicine. Read more here.

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