Four Bewildering Bronze Lions’ Heads With Slightly Different Facial Expressions Found in Ancient Roman Grave in Israel
Similar examples of ancient lion artifacts appear to have been used as door knockers. But the newly discovered discs may have served a different purpose
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Archaeologists have discovered four bronze discs in a 1,900-year-old Roman grave in central Israel. The artifacts depict lions’ heads in high relief, each with slightly different facial features and manes.
The discovery was announced in a recent issue of ‘Atiqot, the journal of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), though the discs were found in 2018 during a salvage excavation ahead of road construction.
The dig was conducted at an archaeological site known as Khirbat Ibreika near the city of Kfar Saba, located about ten miles northeast of Tel Aviv. According to the report, archaeologists unearthed eight Roman cist graves—burial chambers lined with stones—dating to the first or second centuries C.E.
Quick fact: Discoveries at Khirbat Ibreika
In addition to the eight Roman-era graves, the 2018 excavations revealed traces of agricultural sites dating to the Byzantine period.“The discs were found in one of the tombs,” co-author and excavation manager Elie Haddad, an archaeologist at the IAA, tells the Times of Israel’s Rossella Tercati. “The tomb was still sealed.”
In addition to the “unique, bronze lion-head discs and ring-handles,” the grave also contained human bones, glass vessels, wooden fragments and a nail, per the study. Researchers think the deceased was buried in a wooden coffin that has long since disintegrated.
Many mysteries surrounding the artifacts remain unsolved. No traces of Roman settlements have been discovered at the Khirbat Ibreika archaeological site, which was first excavated in 1995, as the researchers tell Haaretz’s Ruth Schuster. Additionally, the researchers aren’t sure about the newly discovered lions’ heads’ significance, though the animal “is known to symbolize strength, courage and nobility” in cultures around the world, they write in the report. Dozens of similar lion artifacts have been discovered in present-day Israel.
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“Surveying our storage units, we found about 40 samples of such lions,” many of them holding rings in their mouths, Haddad says to Haaretz. “When the ring was in the mouth, it was a door knocker.”
The newly discovered discs also feature rings—but they’re attached at the top of the lions’ heads, rather than in their mouths, according to a statement from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As such, while the artifacts were ornamental, they likely weren’t door knockers.
What, then, was their purpose? The researchers hypothesize that the discs were attached to the wooden coffin, and the rings were used to lower it into the grave. Ancient mourners may have threaded bars through the rings to maneuver the coffin more easily.
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The discs were found in a neat pile beside the grave, which also puzzled the researchers. “If the discs were coffin handles, why were they stacked in what seems to have been a deliberate pile on one side of the tomb?” they write. “While it may be claimed that they fell off the wooden coffin during the burial ceremony, it seems unreasonable that all four discs fell on the same side. It is more likely that the discs were taken off and placed there intentionally.”
No other graves at Khirbat Ibreika held lions’ head discs. Based on the lion’s significance in Roman culture, the researchers think this grave’s occupant was a high-status individual.
“There is no doubt that this fact is meaningful, suggesting the importance or status of the person interred in that specific grave,” the researchers write. “It is hoped that future excavations yielding similar artifacts will allow a better understanding of these enigmatic lion-headed handles and their cultural affinity.”
Editors’ note, July 7, 2025: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the location of Kfar Saba, which is about ten miles northeast of Tel Aviv.
