World Wonders: The Megiddo Ivories

COURTESY OF ISAC

The Megiddo ivories are one of the largest caches of Bronze Age decorative ivories ever found. Consisting of roughly 400 pieces, the ivories were discovered in a disordered heap in a storeroom of the city’s last Canaanite palace, dated to the 12th century BCE. Most scholars believe the ivories were heirlooms collected by several generations of Canaanite rulers before they were ultimately discarded during the city’s final days.

The hoard is remarkable for both its size and diversity. Among the Megiddo ivories are items that draw on Aegean, Hittite, and Mesopotamian styles and motifs, although most common are Egyptian-inspired pieces, such as this nearly 4-inch-tall depiction of a winged sphinx. The recumbent female figure is shown holding a large vessel between her hands and wears a flattened headpiece topped by a Levantine-style coiffure and a bouquet of lotus flowers.

Most of the ivories were discovered by the University of Chicago expedition to Megiddo, which began just over a hundred years ago in 1925. Today, the ivories are split between the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem and the ISAC Museum at the University of Chicago, which is exhibiting the ivories and other objects from Megiddo in a special exhibit, Megiddo: A City Unearthed, A Past Imagined, through March 15.