Archaeologists unearth major Biblical discovery

Archaeologists have discovered a stamped seal that may have been created by legendary Biblical figure Isaiah, in what the researchers have described as an "unprecedented find."

Called a bulla, the 2,700-year-old tiny clay piece was unearthed in Jerusalem while the team excavated at the foot of a wall at Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

In a report on the findings published on Thursday, team leader, Dr Eilat Mazar said:

We found the eighth-century B.C.E. seal mark that may have been made by the prophet Isaiah himself only 10 feet away from where we earlier discovered the highly-publicized bulla of King Hezekiah of Judah.

Dr Mazar added that if the bulla did belong to the prophet Isaiah, then it should “not come as a surprise” that it was discovered 10 feet away from the earlier discovery of King Hezekiah’s bulla [seal], given the relationship between the two Biblical legends, as described in the Bible.

Archaeologists discovered the seal at an excavation site near Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Picture: GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images

The find is about a half-inch wide and is inscribed in ancient Hebrew with the name Yesha’yah[u] - the Hebrew name of Isaiah, followed by the word 'nvy.'

Dr Mazar said:

Because the bulla has been slightly damaged at end of the word nvy, it is not known if it originally ended with the Hebrew letter aleph which would have resulted in the Hebrew word for “prophet” and would have definitively identified the seal as the signature of the prophet Isaiah.

The absence of this final letter, however, requires that we leave open the possibility that it could just be the name Navi.

The name of Isaiah, however, is clear.