A rare, intact bronze ring from the Middle Ages, bearing the image of St Nicholas, popularly known in the West today as Santa Claus, was discovered by chance during recent landscaping work in the garden of a home in a community in the Jezreel Valley, lower Galilee.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said that there is no comparable ring in the its national treasure department.

A gardener, Dekel Ben-Shitrit, 26, made the discovery while weeding last Thursday. 'I rubbed it slightly and I saw it was carved with a human image inside a frame,' he said.

The ring, which dates from the 12th–15th centuries, was examined by Dr Yana Tchekhanovetz, an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist specialising in the Byzantine period.

'This special ring is amazingly well preserved and will contribute a great deal to science,' she said. 'On the ring is the image of a bald man with a staff next to him. On preliminary examination, this seems to be St Nicholas holding a bishop's crook – his hallmark. In the Eastern Christian world, St Nicholas is considered the patron saint of travelers, including pilgrims and sailors. And so Christian pilgrims to the Land of Israel from all over the Byzantine Empire [Turkey, the Balkans, Greece and present-day Russia] would carry his icon to protect them from harm. It is probable that the ring belonged to a pilgrim who sought the protection of St Nicholas on his travels.'

The community at Moshav Hayogev is located in the eastern Jezreel Valley, east of Tel Megiddo and settlements from the Roman and Byzantine period at nearby Legio. According to Dr Yotam Tepper, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and expert on Roman roads.

'We know that the main Roman road from Legio to Mount Tabor passed next to Moshav Yogev, and the road must also have been used throughout the centuries by Christian pilgrims on their way to the sites on Mount Tabor, Nazareth and around the Sea of Galilee,' he said

Nir Distelfeld, the Israel Antiquities Authority anti-theft inspector said: 'We thank Ben-Shitrit for handing over this special artefact to the Israel Antiquities Authority, and we encourage others to do the same, When they do, they enrich and deepen archaeological understanding of the past that belongs to all of us. The Israel Antiquities Authority will be awarding Ben-Shitrit a good citizenship certificate in thanks for his action.'