UPI | UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
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A close-up of seized two thousand year old ossuaries on display by the Israeli Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, March 31, 2014. |
ISRAEL---With the help of police in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) was able to thwart of an illegal antique sale between tomb raiders and ancient artifact dealers -- arresting several suspects, last Friday, and confiscating eleven ossuaries, ancient stone coffins containing Jewish remains. The ossuaries are from the Second Temple period, a segment of Jewish history that lasted from 530 BCE to 70 CE. The burial boxes are engraved with a variety of Jewish symbols, including the lily flower, the six-petal rosette and other elements of Jewish art common during that period. [
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