Ivory pomegranate

A photo of the reconstructed artifact

Lateral view

A drawing of the Paleo-Hebrew inscription with missing letters shown as faded

Paleo-Hebrew inscription from right to left

The ivory pomegranate is a thumb-sized semitic ornamental artifact acquired by the Israel Museum. It is not actually made of ivory, but of hippopotamus bone and bears an inscription; Holy (Sacred) to the Priest of the House of God (YHWH).

At the time of its discovery, it was thought to have adorned the High Priest's sceptre within the Holy of Holies, thus potentially proving the existence of Solomon's Temple. However, experts of the Israel Museum have declared the inscription to be a modern forgery, and that the item dates back to the 14th or the 13th century BCE, well before the time of Solomon.^[1]

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