25 July 2011 Update:

To hear the bell last heard over two thousand years ago:
http://youtu.be/xjx9tP3yTRI

This is the tiny golden bell which was lost in Jerusalem some 2,000 years
ago during the Second Temple period found among ruins near the Old City. The
bell, which is thought to have been an adornment which was sewn onto the
garments of a senior official, was uncovered during excavation work on a
drainage channel in the City of David, just south of the Old City walls. "It
seems the bell was sewn on the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem
at the end of the Second Temple period," an IAA statement said.

The recording of the bell provided by Udi Ragones, Ir David Foundation
Spokesman

Dr. Aaron Lerner – www.imra.org.il 25.7.2011

[IMRA: IMRA has requested a sound file of the bell. If one takes the sound
of the single bell and prepares a series of staggered overlays of the sound
of the bell it will be possible to recreate what was heard over two thousand
years ago when the high official walked in Jerusalem.]

Israel Antiquities Authority Ir David Foundation
Jerusalem, July 21, 2011

A RARE GOLD BELL WAS DISCOVERED IN IAA EXCAVATIONS IN THE DRAINAGE CHANNEL
FROM THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD, IN THE JERUSALEM ARCHAEOLOGICAL GARDEN, NEXT
TO THE WESTERN WALL

The bell was apparently sewn to the garment worn by a high official in
Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period. The excavations are being
conducted at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in
cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and underwritten by Ir David
Foundation.

A rare gold bell with a small loop at its end was discovered during an
archaeological excavation in the drainage channel that begins in the Shiloah
Pool and continues from the City of David to the Jerusalem Archaeological
Garden, near the Western Wall.

According to the excavation directors, archaeologists Eli Shukron and
Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, “It seems the bell was sewn on
the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem at the end of the Second
Temple period (first century CE). The bell was exposed inside Jerusalem’s
main drainage channel at that time, among the layers of earth that had
accumulated along the bottom of it. This drainage channel was built and hewn
the length of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, on the bottom of the
slope descending to the Tyropoeon Valley. This drainage channel conveyed
rainwater from different parts of the city, by way of the City of David and
the Shiloah Pool, to Nahal Kidron”.

The main street of the Jerusalem is in the region of the excavation, above
the drainage channel. This road ascended from the Shiloah Pool in the City
of David and an interchange, known today as ‘Robinson’s Arch’, was built in
it, by way of which people entered the Temple Mount. Apparently, the high
official was walking in the Jerusalem street in the vicinity of Robinson’s
Arch and lost the gold bell that fell from his garment into the drainage
channel beneath the road.

We know from sources that the high priests, who served in the Temple, used
to hang a gold bell from the fringes of their robe. Thus, for example, in
the ‘Tetzaveh’ Torah portion, in the Book of Exodus, there is a description
of the high priest Aaron’s robe: “All of blue…it shall have a binding of
woven work …And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue,
and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of
gold between them round about”. It is impossible to know for certain if the
bell did indeed belong to one of the high priests; however, the possibility
should not be entirely discounted.

The Israel Antiquities Authority Spokesperson is currently on vacation. For
further information regarding this discovery, kindly contact: Udi Ragones,
Ir David Foundation Spokesman, 054-4305208.