In 1979, while excavating near the outskirts of Jerusalem, close to St. Andrews church, Gabriel Barkay stumbled upon ancient burial caves at a place called Katef Hinnom. The caves have probably been in use for several generations from around 650 BCE, towards the end of the First Temple period, and continued to be used after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6 BCE.

Professor Barkay was assisted by a group of 12 and 13-year-olds who found the tombs had been emptied and looted in the past. One of the young helpers, Nathan, was assigned to clear dirt from beneath the burial benches in Chamber 25. In a youthful burst of energy, he struck a nook with a hammer, inadvertently uncovering a hidden chamber. This chamber held over 1000 artifacts, including 125 silver items, 40 iron arrowheads, glass bottles, needles, and treasures made of gold, ivory, glass, and bone. Additionally, there were 150 semi-precious stones and skeletal remains.

These artifacts were traced back to the late 7th and early 6th centuries BC, with two of the most notable finds being two tiny 1-inch silver scrolls (silver amulets). 

The Silver Amulets of Katef Hinnom

The two small silver scrolls were no bigger than the diameter of a quarter and were originally worn as amulets around the neck.

It took more than three years to open them, but when researchers from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem finally unrolled small silver sheets 10 cm [nearly 4 inches] in length made out of pure silver, 99 % silver were revealed. On them, tiny lines of ancient Hebrew script inscribed on them were found.

High-resolution photos taken in 1994 by the West Semitic Research Project at the University of Southern California allowed researchers to study and decipher the Hebrew text on these ancient amulets.

The inscriptions on the amulets, which date back to the eighth–sixth centuries B.C.E., contained blessings similar to those found in Numbers 6:24–26 from the Hebrew Bible. These amulets contain the oldest surviving texts from the Hebrew Bible known to date.