A 3,400-year-old ancient Egyptian limestone anchor was accidentally discovered at Israel’s northern shores in Haifa, according to Israeli news portal Haartez.
The limestone with hieroglyphic inscription, which was used as an anchor, is to be on display at the Egyptian exhibit in Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The limestone has engravings showcasing the image of an ancient goddess that is yet to be known. The inscriptions are shown clearly, as the limestone is well preserved due to being incased deep in sand.
“Its function is quite mundane and easily identifiable: it was a typical anchor used by ships during the Bronze Age, which ended some 3,200 years ago,” Shirly Ben-Dor Evian, curator of Egyptian archaeology at the museum told the local media portal, explaining that “these anchors were shaped like a trapezoid with rounded corners, with a hole drilled near the top end to secure a rope.”
This is not the first time Israel unearths ancient Egyptian relics. The sea, where the stone was found is known to be a home of number of Egyptian antiquities.
“This was a known site from which other finds have emerged, but we were not digging there at the time,” Jacob Sharvit, head of the IAA’s maritime archaeology unit, told Haartez, “Sometimes the sea does our job for us, and fortunately a member of the public saw it and alerted us.”
