An excavation adjacent to the site of the new U.S. embassy in Israel’s capital has uncovered what appears to be a facility for collecting and storing tax revenues, dating to the First Temple period. Amanda Borschel-Dan writes:
Uncovered less than two miles outside of [Jerusalem’s] Old City, the compound is believed by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists to have served as an administrative center during the reigns of the Judean kings Hezekiah and Menashe (8th century to the middle of the 7th century BCE).
Over 120 jar handles stamped 2,700 years ago with ancient Hebrew seal impressions were discovered at the site, clearly indicating the location’s use as a storage and tax center. . . . Prevalent among the stamped inscriptions is l’melekh, “belonging to the king,” a way of marking that the foodstuffs stored in the jars had been tithed to the Judean ruler.
This trove of . . . seal impressions adds to the over-2,000 similar seals previously discovered at excavations and allows archaeologists to rethink the administrative and tax-collection systems of the kingdom of Judah.
According to the archaeologists, the large number of seal impressions here and at nearby Kibbutz Ramat Rachel shows that much of the kingdom of Judah’s governmental administration took place outside the City of David, at least during the final centuries of the monarchy.
According to the archaeologists, the site [dates] to a period during which the Bible documents tumultuous upheavals, including the Assyrian King Sennacherib’s failed campaign to conquer Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah. The artifacts at the site, including the stamped seals, show that taxation likely remained uninterrupted during this period.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/huge-kingdom-of-judah-government-complex-found-stones-throw-from-us-embassy/