Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls

In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay was excavating rock-cut tombs at Ketef Hinnom, facing Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. In one of them, beneath a layer that thieves had not reached, two very small silver scrolls appeared, rolled up, used as amulets around the neck.

Unrolling the metal without it crumbling took about three years. When the letters appeared, in ancient Hebrew, the researchers recognized the Priestly Blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep you...". New high-resolution photographs in the 2000s confirmed the reading and the date by the shape of the letters: end of the 7th century B.C., before the exile in Babylon.

Why it matters: they are more than four centuries older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. They show that words that are in the book of Numbers today were already used and known in Jerusalem in the time of the last kings of Judah, with the name of God (YHWH) written out in full. Scholars debate whether the amulets quote the book of Numbers already written or a liturgical blessing that also entered it — either way, the blessing is ancient.