A photo of the seal in high resolution can be downloaded from this link -
www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14

Press Release
Tuesday May 19, 2009

A Bone Seal Engraved with the Name Shaul, from the Time of the First Temple,
was Found in the IAA Excavations in the Walls Around Jerusalem National
Park, in the City of David

The seal was displayed during a visit there by the Knesset presidium prior
to Jerusalem Day

Today (Tuesday) the Knesset presidium, headed by Speaker Reuben Rivlin,
visited the City of David in Jerusalem. A Hebrew seal that dates to the time
of the First Temple was displayed for the first time during the visit. The
seal was found in an excavation that is being conducted in the Walls Around
Jerusalem National Park, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and
in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority, under the direction of
Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the IAA,
and underwritten by the 'Ir David Foundation'.

The seal, which is made of bone, was found broken and is missing a piece
from its upper right side. Two parallel lines divide the surface of the seal
into two registers in which Hebrew letters are engraved.

A period followed by a floral image or a tiny fruit appear at the end of the
bottom name.

The name of the seal's owner was completely preserved and it is written in
the shortened form of the name Shaul. The name is known from both the Bible
(Genesis 36:37; 1 Samuel 9:2; 1 Chronicles 4:24 and 6:9) and from other
Hebrew seals.

According to Professor Reich, "This seal joins another Hebrew seal that was
previously found and three Hebrew bullae (pieces of clay stamped with seal
impressions) that were discovered nearby. These five items have great
chronological importance regarding the study of the development of the use
of seals. While the numerous bullae that were discovered in the adjacent
rock-hewn pool were found together with pottery sherds from the end of the
ninth and beginning of the eighth centuries BCE, they do not bear any
Semitic letters. On the other hand, the five Hebrew epigraphic artifacts
were recovered from the soil that was excavated outside the pool, which
contained pottery sherds that date to the last part of the eighth century.

It seems that the development in the design of the seals occurred in Judah
during the course of the eighth century BCE. At the same time as they
engraved figures on the seal, at some point they also started to engrave
them with the names of the seals' owners. This was apparently when they
started to identify the owner of the seal by his name rather than by some
sort of graphic representation."

It appears that the "office" which administered the correspondence and
received the goods that were all sealed with bullae continued to exist and
operate within a regular format even after a residential dwelling was
constructed inside the same "rock-hewn pool" and the soil and the refuse
that contained the many aforementioned bullae were trapped beneath its
floor. This "office" continued to generate refuse that included bullae,
which were opened and broken, as well as seals that were no longer used and
were discarded into the heap of rubbish that continued to accumulate in the
vicinity.

A photo of the seal in high resolution can be downloaded from this link -
www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14

For further details, kindly contact: Yoli Shwartz, Israel Antiquities
Authority spokesperson, 052-5991888, dovrut@israntique.org.il