Hikers exploring an ancient cistern in southern Israel over the weekend found side-by-side etchings of a menorah and a cross.
Hikers exploring an ancient cistern in southern Israel over the weekend found side-by-side etchings of a menorah and a cross, reports the Times of Israel.
The discovery was not only made during Hanukkah, but in one of the rare years the festival overlapped with Christmas week.
Though both the symbols in the cistern were created long ago, they were likely carved into the limestone on two distinct occasions separated by hundreds of years, notes Fox News.
At this time, experts have yet to determine the ages of the markings, but Sa'ar Ganor, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, has a theory as to when they were made.
In a statement, he said, “The menorah was probably etched in the cistern after the water installation was hewn in the bedrock, maybe by inhabitants of the Jewish settlement that was situated there during the Second Temple period…The cross was etched later on, during the Byzantine period."
That would place the making of the menorah, which depicts the 7-armed version used prior to the establishment of Hanukkah, at some point between 530 BCE and 70 CE, and the carving of the cross in the 300s CE.
Other symbols were found on the wall as well, including one that resembles a key.
What the ancient markings may symbolize is unknown at this time, but further study is already underway.
