For 1,700 years, a Roman ring lay buried in the Sussita National Park without anyone noticing it. Last week, 13-year-old Itamar Grossman from Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad visited the site and stopped to take a picture when he suddenly noticed it lying on the ground.
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"It was a strange and ancient-looking ring," Itamar said. "My brothers and cousins who were with me didn't think it was anything old, just a ring someone had dropped. But I insisted; I took it to my parents, and we noticed it was engraved, and thought it was really old. We approached a representative from the Nature and Parks Authority who was there, and they took the ring for initial examination."
On Sunday, the archaeological examination’s results on the intriguing find were sent, and Itamar was told he had found a treasure: a ring that was frozen in time for 1,700 years.
"When Itamar and his mother, Liat, approached us and showed us the ring they found, we immediately realized it was something significant," said Sarit Palachi Miara, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority’s head of visitor experience in the northern district, who met the family at the national park.
"We thought it was a very interesting find, but we were afraid to get too excited. We didn't want to raise our expectations and then be disappointed. At first, we told Itamar that there was a chance it was from the Roman period. He didn't quite understand what that meant, and when we explained to him that it was so many years ago, his eyes widened in astonishment,” she added.
Dr. Dror Ben-Yosef, an archaeologist in the Israel Nature and Parks Authority’s northern district, described the ring. "The ancient ring is made of bronze, with an ornament created at the time of casting. According to similar rings found in Israel, it can be dated to the Roman period, between the first and fourth centuries CE," he said.
"I'm really happy it turned out I was right, and this is something important," Itamar said.