An amulet from khirbet Wadi hamam

This article describes an amulet in the shape of a thin copper plaque that was found on the floor of a domestic structure at Khirbet Wadi Hamam in the eastern Lower Galilee. It contains an engraved five-line inscription with a sequence of magic signs and a few Hebrew (or pseudo-Hebrew) letters. Dated to the first half of the fourth century CE, the amulet is the earliest example of its type known to date from a Jewish context. Its meaning, use and place in the development of such amulets are discussed, as well as its date and the stratigraphic context in which it was found.