Ebony and bone pendants carved in the likeness of African men and women have been documented in three sixth–seventh-century Christian graves at Tel Malḥata, south-east of Beersheba. The study, released in volume 117 of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) journal ‘Atiqot, ties the objects to long-distance trade and to residents whose ancestry or memory reached Africa while they practised Christianity in the Roman-Byzantine Negev.
Dr Noé D. Michael of the University of Cologne and the IAA, together with Svetlana Talis, Dr Yossi Nagar and Emil Aladjem of the IAA, led the investigation. Their paper describes five pendants—three bone and two ebony—recovered during salvage excavations in 2016–2017 inside a military zone that overlies the necropolis.
Archaeologists uncovered about 155 burials laid out in a cemetery that follows Christian practice: most tombs are lined cists oriented east–west, with bodies placed supine, heads to the west and arms bent toward the torso. Grave goods appear mainly with women and children; two-thirds of offerings belong to those groups, while men rarely received jewellery.
The figurines came from three cist graves. Tomb 162 held a woman aged between eighteen and twenty-one; a single bone pendant lay near glass vessels and a bronze bracelet. Tomb 178 belonged to a woman aged twenty to thirty and yielded two alabaster jars, jewellery and a pair of pendants—one bone, one ebony. Tomb 179 contained a child aged six to eight; one bone and one ebony carving rested inside the bent left arm and on the abdomen beside bronze ornaments.
All three bone pendants are columnar carvings fashioned from metapodial bone, polished and pierced to hang on a cord. Dimensions range from 1.95 cm to 3.15 cm in height. Simple incised lines mark eyes, mouth and arms, and no pigment survives.
The ebony pieces attracted special analysis. Optical-microscope examination of one specimen identified the wood as Diospyros ebenum, Ceylon ebony native to South India and Sri Lanka. The larger ebony carving, 2.75 cm high, shows a male torso and head with clearly rendered African facial features; the second, a broken female head 1.5 cm high, matches the male in scale and workmanship. Both bear suspension holes.
Trade studies cited in the paper note that maritime routes linking Egypt, the Horn of Africa and South Asia carried ebony, pepper, cotton and silk into the eastern Mediterranean from the fourth century CE. Caravans then moved high-value items across the Negev corridors that meet at Tel Malḥata—one road running north from Aila on the Gulf of Aqaba, the other crossing east–west between Gaza and the Dead Sea.
The researchers suggest the pendants were personal objects associated with family identity rather than temple or church equipment. The authors observe that Greco-Roman writers grouped several African peoples under the term “Ethiopian” and that Christian conversion expanded in Axum and Nubia during the reigns of Justin I and Justinian. They therefore leave open the possibility that the deceased or their ancestors originated in Africa and carried ancestral symbols after adopting Christianity in the Negev.
Each grave held additional offerings. Tomb 162 produced glassware; Tomb 178 contained two alabaster jars positioned beside the head and torso; Tomb 179 yielded bronze bracelets together with the pendants. The placement of items near hands, torso and feet follows patterns recorded throughout the cemetery.
The wider cemetery spans burial types from lined cists and pit graves to seven incineration pits that may represent the earliest Roman-period horizons. Pottery and small finds show use from the third century CE into the early Umayyad era, but the Christian layout and the presence of luxury imports anchor the three figurine tombs in the late sixth or early seventh century.
In a Facebook announcement of the publication, the IAA stated that the pendants “carry stories of tradition and memory” and “remind us that the Land of Israel has always been a meeting point of cultures.” IAA director Eli Eskosido added that the find underlines how migrants absorbed local customs while preserving ties to distant homelands.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
