An ancient inscription found on the Biblical Mount Zion in Jerusalem has revealed a previously unknown relationship between two nations.
Archaeologists uncovered a 500-year-old porcelain shard of a bowl painted with Chinese lettering that reads: ‘Forever we will guard the eternal spring.’
They called it the ‘first archeological testimony of economical and political connections between the early Ottoman Empire, the Holy Land of Israel and Imperial China‘ — but the text’s meaning remains unclear.
‘All of us, we were very excited [by] this rare find because it was so unexpected,’ said the archeologist who made the find, Michael Chernin with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
While the authority have worked on the Mount Zion dig site for the past three years with Germany‘s Protestant Institute of Archaeology, neither team could speak with certainty as to the meaning behind the ornate bowl’s centuries-old message.
Researchers suggested that the ‘evocative inscription’ might indicate ‘the awe in which the Ottomans held Chinese porcelain renowned the world wide for the fine quality of the clay.’
But the archeologists behind the find are focused on more concrete analysis of the artifact, which they have dated to between the years 1520 and 1570, saying it likely arrived via Chinese merchant colonies then existing in Beirut, Tripoli and Jerusalem.
‘This poetic message in Chinese, found in such an unexpected place, adds a beautiful new chapter to Jerusalem’s story,’ IAA director Eli Escusido said. ‘It’s a tangible reminder of how interconnected the world was, even centuries ago.’
‘Forever we will guard the eternal spring.’ That’s the cryptic inscription found on a 16th century Chinese porcelain shard (above) newly unearthed at a Biblical dig site atop Mount Zion in Israel
The roughly 500-year-old porcelain shard, believed to be the remains of bowl dating to the Ming Dynasty, was discovered in that shadow of the ‘Church of the Dormition’ (above) – built to honor the place the Virgin Mary is believed to have died – atop Jerusalem’s highest point
In the New Testament, Mount Zion is used metaphorically to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem, God’s holy, eternal city.
The first time the word Zion is mentioned in the Bible is in 2 Samuel 5:7, when ‘David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.’
Although it is true that ancient Chinese porcelain has been found in the Holy Land before, the Mount Zion shard is the first known discovery to feature a true inscription.
Researchers have also found, however, ancient forgeries of this heavily sought after Chinese porcelain, with garbled, meaningless attempts at Chinese ‘hanzi’ text.
Fruitful, peaceful contact between Jewish and Chinese traders may, in fact, date as far back as the Old Testament, with a passage in the Book of Isaiah (49:12) that makes reference visitors using the Hebrew terms for China, ‘Sin’ and ‘Sinim.’
‘Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west,’ the passage reads, ‘and these from the land of Sinim.’
Although debated, some scholars like 19th century English Particular Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon have even argued that one of the three Wise Men to visit the Jesus during the Nativity had come from the land of Sinim.
Historians and archeologists, however, place the first well-documented interactions between the Jewish people and the Chinese to the 11th century, when merchants from the Holy Land themselves established an outpost in Kaifeng, Henan Province.
Still commonly known as ‘Kaifeng Jews’ to this day, this small community may have originated in sporadic form as early as the 7th or 8th centuries during China’s Tang and Song dynasties, according to some historians.
These traders along the Silk Road swapped spices and brought other priceless artifacts like porcelain to the Holy Land, carving routes the Ottomans would follow.
‘The Chinese realized the Ottomans wanted white Chinese porcelain,’ according to Hebrew University pottery specialist Anna de Vincenz, who helped date the new find.
The dig site at Mount Zion is steeped in many tricky and overlapping layers, all rich with history. Above, a different team lead by British-born archeologist Professor Shimon Gibson works their way through a confusion of Byzantine-era structures also buried within Mount Zion
Above, Director General of the German Protestant Institute of Archeology, Dr Dieter Vieweger, holds the new fragment alongside IAA archeologist Michael Chernin (left) and his colleague from the Protestant Institute, postdoctoral researcher Dr Jennifer Zimmi (right)
Above, Prof Gibson observes another excavation at Mount Zion from a crane – not too far from where the IAA and Germany’s Protestant Institute of Archaeology found the Chinese porcelain
‘They began to make porcelain specifically for export to Europe,’ Dr de Vincenz told newspaper Haaretz. ‘It was called export porcelain.’
Dr de Vincenz explained that she had been able to date the artifact based on the style of the inscription, which she said was typical of the 16th century.
Another scholar at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Jingchao Chen, ultimately translated the mysterious phrase written on the bowl.
Trade between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty flourished in the 16 century, leaving historical records of at least 20 Ottoman delegations visiting the imperial court in Beijing around this period.
The Mount Zion dig site, however, covers a vast timeline of ancient history across ages and empires, the team noted, with the new discovery coming to light near the remnants of an old Christian church called the Hagia Sion.
Built by the Emperor Constantine, the Hagia Sion was once called ‘the Mother of all Churches,’ until it was destroyed by the Persians in 614 AD.
‘We excavated here,’ Protestant Institute postdoctoral researcher Dr Jennifer Zimmi told local media i24, ‘in the so-called Greek Garden. Here in the vicinity of the church, the famous Hagia Sion.’
‘It is fascinating,’ IAA’s director Escusido said, ‘to meet evidence of these relations also in the form of an actual inscription, written in the Chinese language, and in an unexpected place.’
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