[2][3] During the 1930s, the renowned Egyptologist Sir William Matthews Flinders Petrie led a British archaeological expedition to Tell el-Ajjul, in the expectation that they would discover the remains of an outpost of the Egyptian New Kingdom Empire.

[4] The jewellery from Ajjul was made almost entirely from gold (both sheet and solid), by casting, hammering or pressing.

It must have belonged to a wealthy elite who benefited from the settlement's location on the trade routes between Egypt and the Middle East.

Twenty six different types of jewellery have been classified, the principal groups being earrings, circlets, bracelets, beads, Egyptian scarabs and toggle pins.

A few items are in the form of animals such as falcons and flies but the most impressive objects in the hoard are the Egyptian-style pendants of the deity Astarte and gold diadems with quatrefoil florets.