Negev Desert was an extremely large scale settlement for Christians in antiquity. /Envato Market
by Worthy News Jerusalem Bureau Staff
(Worthy News) – Archaeologists have uncovered a rare and poignant glimpse into the lives of ancient African Christians in the heart of Israel’s Negev Desert, discovering exquisitely carved bone and ebony figurines in 1,500-year-old graves of women and children.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), in cooperation with researchers from the University of Cologne, revealed the extraordinary find on May 14 following salvage excavations at Tel Malḥata, an ancient settlement near the Nevatim airbase. Once a crossroads for trade from Arabia, India, and Africa, the site has yielded evidence of human occupation stretching from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period.
Among 155 tombs unearthed, three stood out—each containing human remains alongside figurines depicting individuals with prominent African features. Two of the figurines were carved from ebony, a luxurious black wood native to southern India and Sri Lanka. These were found with the remains of a woman and a child buried side by side, likely mother and son. Another grave held a young woman accompanied by similar grave goods, including a bone-carved figurine.
Researchers suggest that these items, especially the pendants with small perforations, were worn around the neck and served not merely as decorative artifacts, but as intimate expressions of ancestral memory, identity, and continuity of tradition—even after conversion to Christianity.
“It is possible that the figures represent ancestors, and thus they reflect traditions passed down from generation to generation,” the research team wrote in the journal Atiqot. They noted that such a find—particularly the ebony carvings—is without precedent in Israel, Jordan, or neighboring regions.
The presence of these African-styled pendants, combined with Christian burial practices, led archaeologists to propose that the deceased were early Christian converts of Ethiopian or broader East African origin. Trade routes running through Tel Malḥata may have facilitated their migration, as well as the arrival of exotic goods like spices and ebony.
The graves, dated to the sixth or seventh century A.D., coincide with the spread of Christianity under Ethiopian Emperor Justin I. While DNA testing on the remains was unsuccessful due to poor preservation, researchers believe the cultural artifacts speak volumes about the region’s diversity.
Eli Escusido, director of the IAA, called the find “deeply moving,” noting, “They serve as a reminder that the Land of Israel has always been a crossroads of cultures and peoples.”
The discovery not only sheds light on early Christian communities in the Levant but also emphasizes the deep connections between Africa and the Near East during the Byzantine era—connections carried across generations and preserved in objects small enough to hang from a string, but powerful enough to tell a 1,500-year-old story.
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