Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Centuries Old Hand Grenade Unearthed in Israel

A centuries-old ornate clay grenade was one of many artifacts discovered off of the coast of Hadera, near Haifa, and delivered to the Israel Antiquities Authority last week.

The items, many of which apparently fell overboard a merchant’s ship, were collected over decades by Marcel Mazliah, a power station worker in Hadera. Mazliah found the items washed up on the shore and stored them in his home over many decades. After he died recently, his family contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority to assess their value.

Among the other items were a toggle pin and the head of a knife from the Middle Bronze Age more then 3,500 years ago. There were also two mortars and pestles and parts of candlesticks from the Fatimid period in the 11th century. Similar items have been found off the coast of Caesarea.

A toggle pin and head of a knife that date back 3,500 years. Image by Diego Barkan Israel Antiquities Authority

According to Ayala Lester, a curator with the Israel Antiquities Authority, the items were made in Syria and brought to what is now present day Israel.

The ancient items collected by Marcel Mazliah. Image by Diego Barkan Israel Antiquities Authority

“The finds are evidence of the metal trade that was conducted during this period,” she said, according to an Israeli government press release.

The decorated clay hand grenade was apparently in use in the Holy Land during the Mamluk era from the 13th to 15th centuries.

According to Diego Barkan, an archaeologist with the Antiquities Authority, the grenade could have been a weapon that was filled with alcohol, lit on fire, and hurled at enemy ships. Since most ships were made of wood during the Mamluk era, 10 or 20 such grenades lobbed at a single ship could put it out of commission.

The grenade might not have been a weapon at all, but a decorative item filled with perfume.

According to Barkan, this particular grenade was not filled with any liquid when it was delivered to the Antiquities Authority.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected] or on Twitter @naomizeveloff

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.