(Photo: Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
By Luke Tress - December 15, 2021
Israeli archaeologists believe ancient artifacts recently seized by police were spoils of war taken by Jewish rebels from their Roman enemies nearly 2,000 years ago.
Israel’s Antiquities Authority said Wednesday that the artifacts, including ornamental incense burners and a wine jug, may be battle loot dating back to the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-136 CE.
Police found the items during a routine patrol in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood last week when detectives stopped and searched a suspicious vehicle that was driving the wrong way on a one-way street. In the trunk they found a box containing the archaeological artifacts.
The IAA’s Robbery Prevention Unit arrived at the police station and quickly determined that the finds date back to the Roman era.
The artifacts include bronze incense burners, which likely belonged to wealthy Roman homes or temples, and a bronze wine server decorated with a banquet scene depicting a person reclining with a jug of wine.
Authorities also found an ornate three-legged stone bowl, Roman clay lamps and hundreds of coins from the late Roman period in the 2nd-3rd centuries CE.
Read More: Times of Israel