The stamped engraving, known as a "bulla," was discovered in the early part of this year about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount, but is just now making its way in to the headlines across the world.

Dr. Eilat Mazar who is the team leader and from Jerusalem's Hebrew University said the imprint was found in clay, very well-preserved, and bearing the name of Gedaliah, the son of Pashur.

Mazar said, "How absolutely fantastic and special this find is can only be realized when you hold in your hand this magnificent one-centimeter piece of clay and know that it survived 2,600 years in the debris of the destruction, and came to us complete and in perfect condition".

Jeremiah 38:1 mentions the name Gedaliah as he served Judah's King Zedekiah just before Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.

"Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." (Jeremiah 38:6)

In Jerimiah 38:9 the prophet was rescued after an Ethiopian eunuch pleaded with the king on Jeremiah's behalf, saying, "he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city."

Mazar told WND the letters on the seal are in ancient Hebrew, and the relic was recovered through a wet-sifting process.

"The wet sifting that we did for the destruction debris (Illegal excavations by the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, who have been dumping debris in huge mounds) from our excavations indeed allowed us to uncover hundreds of different kinds of small finds such as tiny fish bones, Phoenician glass beads, Hebrew, Babylonian and Egyptian bullae and seals, pits and seeds, hematite and limestone weights, arrowheads, figurines, jewelry and more," she said.

In 2005, Mazar found another seal with the name of Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, who is mentioned twice in the book of Jeremiah. That artifact was found in a stone structure Mazar which is believed to be part of King David's ancient palace.

She added, "It is not very often that such a discovery happens to archaeologists in which real figures of the past shake off the dust of history and so vividly revive the stories of the Bible."

This is the second recent discovery of an ancient bulla from the time of Jeremiah.

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