A fiscal bulla from the City of David, Jerusalem

This article presents a clay bulla (13×14 mm. in size), discovered in the excavations conducted by R. Reich and E. Shukron on the eastern slope of the City of David, south of the spring, in association with pottery sherds of the eighth-seventh centuries BCE. The bulla, inscribed in palaeo-Hebrew script, reads: It seems to be a bulla of the type first dubbed 'fiscal' by N. Avigad. Over 20 similar bullae are currently known, all except two unprovenanced. The present bulla, as well as one recently excavated by G Barkay in Jerusalem, are provenanced, as they originate from licensed excavations. The significance of these two items lies in the possibility of tracing the path of the taxes to which this docket was attached. In addition, the bulla under discussion is the first mention of the toponym Beit Lehem in a source external to the Bible.