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Among the figurines placed as burial offerings were also glassware, stone and alabaster jewelry, and bronze bracelets.
A recent archaeological find in southern Israel suggests that a Christian community, likely at least partially African in origin, existed in the Negev desert 1,500 years ago.
Five tiny figurines – including heads of African figures carved in black wood – were recently uncovered in 1,500-year-old graves of women and children during an archaeological dig at Tel Malḥata in the Negev’s Arad Valley, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Wednesday.
The research on these findings, conducted by Dr. Noé D. Michael of the IAA and the University of Cologne in Germany, along with Svetlana Tallis, Dr. Yossi Nagar and Emil Aladjem from the Israel Antiquities Authority, is now published in Issue 117 of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s ʼAtiqot journal.
“The figurines show that a Christian community lived in the south of the country about 1,500 years ago, possibly with some of its members coming from Africa,” say the researchers.
“Carved from bone, and from ebony wood – a rare raw material originating from southern India and Sri Lanka –the figurines were designed in the form of women and men bearing prominent African facial features and with a hole for the purpose of wearing them around the neck.
“It seems their purpose was not only decorative – but also as intimate personal items carrying with them a story of identity, tradition and memory.”
Carefully placed in the tomb alongside women and children, the figurines were exceptionally well-preserved.
מה עשו ראשים אפריקאים מגולפים במדבר? >>
חמישה פסלונים זעירים – ובהם ראשים של דמויות אפריקאיות מגולפות בעץ שחור – נחשפו בקברי נשים וילדים בני כ-1,500 שנה שהתגלו בחפירה ארכיאולוגית בתל מלחתה שבבקעת ערד בנגב.למאמר המלא בכתב העת Atiqot': https://t.co/8Xst4Nfh6W pic.twitter.com/8lVkXyDKHz
— רשות העתיקות – Israel Antiquities Authority (@AntiquitiesIL) May 14, 2025
According to the researchers, “It is possible that the figures represent ancestors and thus they reflect traditions passed down from generation to generation – even after the adoption of the Christian religion.”
“During the Roman-Byzantine period, Tel Malḥata served as a major crossroads, where merchants from southern Arabia, India and Africa passed,” the researchers explain.
“Yet finding African figurines in local Christian graves is a rare discovery, which deepens our understanding of the cultural diversity among the inhabitants of the country in this region about 1,500 years ago.”
Among the figurines placed as burial offerings were also glassware, stone and alabaster jewelry, and bronze bracelets.
The tombs themselves attest to a traditional Christian burial in the 6th-7th centuries CE.
“It is likely that a woman and a child who were buried side-by-side, and in whose graves two of the figurines were discovered, belonged to the same family – and perhaps they were even mother and son,” the researchers add.
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