Archaeologists discover ‘exciting’ inscription on Biblical Mount Zion

An ancient inscription found on the biblical Mount Zion in Jerusalem has revealed a previously unknown relationship between two nations.

Archaeologists have uncovered a 500-year-old porcelain shard of a bowl painted with Chinese letters that read: “Forever we will guard the eternal spring.”

She called it the ‘first archaeological testimony of economic and political connections between the early Ottoman Empire, the Holy Land of Israel and the Imperial Empire China‘ – but the meaning of the text remains unclear.

“We were all very excited about this rare find because it was so unexpected,” said the archaeologist who made the find, Michael Chernin of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Although the authority has been working on the Mount Zion excavation site with the German Protestant Institute of Archeology for the past three years, neither team could speak with certainty about the meaning behind the ancient message of the ornate bowl.

Researchers suggested that the “evocative inscription” could indicate “the reverence in which the Ottomans held Chinese porcelain which was renowned throughout the world for the fine quality of its clay.”

But the archaeologists behind the find are focused on a more concrete analysis of the artifact, which they date to between the 1520s and 1570s, saying it likely arrived via Chinese merchant colonies that then existed in Beirut, Tripoli and Jerusalem.

“This poetic message in Chinese, found in such an unexpected place, adds a beautiful new chapter to the story of Jerusalem,” said IAA Director Eli Ecusido. “It’s a tangible reminder of how connected the world was, even centuries ago.”

The approximately 500-year-old porcelain shard, believed to be the remains of a Ming Dynasty bowl, was discovered in the shadow of the ‘Church of the Dormition’ (above) – built in honor of the place where the Virgin Mary is believed to have died are – on top of the highest point in Jerusalem

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 conquered the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.”

While it is true that ancient Chinese porcelain has been found in the Holy Land before, the shard from Mount Zion is the first known discovery with an actual inscription.

However, researchers have also found ancient forgeries of this highly sought-after Chinese porcelain, with garbled, meaningless attempts at Chinese ‘hanzi’ text.

Fruitful, peaceful contact between Jewish and Chinese traders may date as far back as the Old Testament, with a passage in the Book of Isaiah (49:12) referring to visitors using the Hebrew terms for China, “Sin.” and ‘Sinim.’

“Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold these from the north and from the west,” the passage reads, “and these from the land of Sinim.”

Although debated, some scholars like the 19th century English Private Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon have even claimed that one of the three Wise Men who visited Jesus at the Nativity came from the land of Sinim.

However, historians and archaeologists place the first well-documented interactions between the Jewish people and the Chinese in the 11th century, when merchants from the Holy Land itself established an outpost in Kaifeng, Henan Province.

This small community, still commonly known to this day as ‘Kaifeng Jews’, may have originated in sporadic form during China’s Tang and Song dynasties as early as the 7th or 8th century, according to some historians .

These traders along the Silk Road traded spices and brought other precious artifacts such as porcelain to the Holy Land, charting routes for the Ottomans to follow.

“The Chinese realized that the Ottomans wanted white Chinese porcelain,” says pottery specialist Anna de Vincenz of the Hebrew University, who helped date the new find.

The excavation site on Mount Zion is steeped in many tricky and overlapping layers, all rich in history. Above, another team led by British-born archaeologist Professor Shimon Gibson makes its way through a confusion of Byzantine-era structures also buried on Mount Zion.

Above, Director General of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Dieter Vieweger, holding the new fragment next to IAA archaeologist Michael Chernin (left) and his colleague from the Protestant Institute, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jennifer Zimmi (right)

Above, Prof. Gibson observes another excavation on Mount Zion from a crane – not far from where the IAA and the German Protestant Institute of Archeology found the Chinese porcelain.

“They started making porcelain specifically for export to Europe,” said Dr. de Vincenz to the newspaper Haaretz. “It was called export porcelain.”

Dr. de Vincenz explained that she could have dated the artifact based on the style of the inscription, which she believed was typical of the 16th century.

Another scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jingchao Chen, eventually translated the mysterious sentence written on the bowl.

Trade between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty flourished in the 16th century, leaving historical records of at least twenty Ottoman delegations visiting the imperial court in Beijing around this period.

However, the Mount Zion excavation covers a vast timeline of ancient history across centuries and empires, the team noted, with the new discovery coming to light near the remains of an ancient Christian church called Hagia Zion.

Built by Emperor Constantine, Hagia Zion was once called ‘the mother of all churches’ until it was destroyed by the Persians in 614 AD.

“We have done excavations here,” postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jennifer Zimmi from the Protestant Institute told local media i24, “in the so-called Greek Garden. Here near the church, the famous Hagia Zion.’

“It is fascinating,” said IAA director Escusido, “to find evidence of these relationships, including in the form of an actual inscription, written in the Chinese language, and in an unexpected place.”