Now This Is Some Old Jewelry

[I LOVE reading stuff like this. Enjoy. LS]


This undated photo made available by the Israeli Antiquities Authority on Monday, Nov. 10, 2008 shows what archaeologists say is a 2,000-year-old gold earring discovered beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem’s old city.


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JERUSALEM - A luxurious gold, pearl and emerald earring provides a new visual clue about the life of the elite in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago.

And its discovery was a true eureka moment for excavators.

The piece was found beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. It dates to the Roman period just after the time of Jesus, said Doron Ben-Ami, who directed the dig.

The earring was uncovered in a destroyed Byzantine structure built centuries after the piece was made, showing it was likely passed down through generations, he said.

Archaeologists came upon the earring in a corner while excavating the ruins of the building under a parking lot. "Suddenly one of the excavators came up shouting ’Eureka!’" said Ben-Ami.

The find is eye-catching: A large pearl inlaid in gold with two drop pieces, each with an emerald and pearl set in gold.

"It must have belonged to someone of the elite in Jerusalem," Ben-Ami said. "Such a precious item, it couldn’t be one of just ordinary people."

Archaeologist Shimon Gibson, who was not involved in the dig, said the find was truly amazing, less because of its Roman origins than for its precious nature.

"Jewelry is hardly preserved in archaeological context in Jerusalem," he said, because precious metals were often sold or melted down during the many historic takeovers of the city.

"It adds to the visual history of Jerusalem," Gibson added, saying it brings attention to the life of women in antiquity.

Ben-Ami the piece’s placement in the destroyed building protected it from looters and kept it preserved. Its location also showed that it must be older than the house itself.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the earring appeared to have been made using a technique similar to that depicted in portraits from Roman-era Egypt. Experts were able to date the earring by comparing it to similar finds in Europe.

In a statement released Monday, the Antiquities Authority said the earring was "astonishingly well-preserved." Finds from the Roman period are rare in Jerusalem, Ben-Ami said, because the city was destroyed by the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.

Though Gibson dates the piece slightly later than the antiquities authority, to sometime between the second and fourth centuries A.D., he said its quality and beauty were impressive.

And Ben-Ami said he expects more small, luxury items to turn up in future excavations.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view.bg?articleid=1131391&srvc=rss

Score One For Man's Best Friend

By Jessica Scarpati

An observer who had only watched the tallies come in from Bristol and Plymouth counties on Tuesday night could’ve been certain dog racing would survive.

Southeastern Massachusetts was the biggest stronghold to keep dog racing intact, voting by wide margins in opposition of Question 3, which makes dog racing illegal by January 2010.

But it was the remaining 299 cities and towns in the state that decided the fate of the state’s two dog tracks — some communities vehemently so, such as 97 percent of voters in New Marlborough, a town of about 1,200 in Berkshire County, who voted to end dog racing.

Ultimately, 56 percent of voters across the state voted to end the sport, effectively shutting down tracks in Raynham and Revere.

According to one expert, the voting breakdown suggests the tracks secured their support from their stakeholders — those who would suffer from its losses — or those who felt a solidarity with its blue-collar roots.

“People from a different class, who would be professional or higher-level income, are not likely participants in dog tracks,” said Michael Kryzanek, a political science professor at Bridgewater State College.

“I think there’s also probably a greater appreciation of the economic impact of the dog track (in this region) than there might be in other communities,” he said.

Thinner margins — but still supportive of racing — prevailed in blue-collar communities around Revere’s Wonderland Greyhound Park, such as Everett, Lynn and Saugus.

But every other region — Greater Boston, the Cape and the Islands, the North Shore, MetroWest, Central Massachusetts and the Berkshires — all came down on the side of the racing opponents.

“They worked harder and they were more aggressive,” Kryzanek said of the Committee to Protect Dogs, the group behind the ballot initiative. “Give them credit — they wanted it more.”

http://www.patriotledger.com/homepage/x852774481/Well-to-do-voters-killed-dog-racing

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