Rare Christian amulet holding bible scrap, ancient stone seal unearthed at Turkish site - report

Archaeologists from Bilkent University, the University of Chicago, and Bilecik Seyh Edebali University unearthed a rare early Christian gold amulet and a roughly 3,500-year-old stone seal with hieroglyphic inscriptions during excavations at the Turkmen Karahoyuk archaeological site in Turkey. The Christian amulet, likely dating back to the fourth or fifth century CE, was found inside a small copper container containing a thin gold sheet only 0.1 millimeters thick, believed to bear a passage from the Bible.

Michele Ruzgar Massa of Bilkent University speculated that the amulet may have been a protective charm for a child, comparable to an evil-eye charm. The stone seal, inscribed with Luwian hieroglyphs, suggests that it belonged to an individual with a lower-ranking position in a bureaucratic system during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

The seal's name, "Kurunti-ziti," is related to the Hittite stag god and guardian deity Kurunta, indicating that Turkmen Karahoyuk functioned as a major administrative center at the time.