5,000-year-old seal is oldest musical image in Israel

The impression made by a 5,000-year-old seal is the oldest known musical image found in Israel.

Archaeologists now believe the scene shows the musical part of a ritual dating back 5,000 years, of the “sacred marriage” between the Mesopotamian king and a goddess, whose role would have been played by a priestess.

Found in Early Bronze Age ruins in Beit Haemek in the 1970s, the impression was made using a cylinder seal rolled along the surface of clay before it was fired, creating repeating designs. It shows two standing women and one sitting, who is playing a musical instrument that is, apparently, a lyre.

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Story: Ruth Schuster, Haaretz | Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority