Antonio Lombatti alerted to me the discovery in Galilee of a seal of Sargon II, the Assyrian king who claimed the destruction of Samaria and the deportation of its population in 722 BC. The find was reported in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. Here’s a snippet of the article:
Prof. Ziona Grossmark of Tel-Hai Academic College in northern Israel conducted research on the seal, along with Baruch Brendl from the Israel Antiquities Authority. “The seal depicts a battle between a winged figure and a bull standing on its hind legs,” says Grossmark, adding that “comparative research allows us to date it to the time of Sargon II, an Assyrian king who ruled between 722 and 705 B.C.E. and completed the conquest of ancient Israel. The seal was apparently brought to Israel by one of his subjects. What happened to the seal after that remains a mystery, but ancient seals like this one are very rare − only a few of this nature have been found in remains from the Roman period, mostly in graves and temples.”
Relief of Sargon II (Louvre, Paris)
Another nice find!
With Meagre Powers 