A carved stone block upends assumptions about ancient Judaism

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Isabel Kershner

The Magdala Stone was unearthed in 2009 near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, where a resort and center for Christian pilgrims was going to be built. Credit Yael Yolovich/Israel Antiquities Authority

ISRAEL---The carved stone block is about the size of an occasional table. It has held its secrets for two millenniums. Whoever engraved its enigmatic symbols was apparently depicting the ancient Jewish temples. But what makes the stone such a rare find in biblical archaeology, according to scholars, is that when it was carved, the Second Temple still stood in Jerusalem for the carver to see. The stone is a kind of ancient snapshot. [link]