The team also unearthed a tall ceramic vessel bearing a Hebrew seal reading ‘God: Justice,’ dated to the ninth or tenth century.
An unlikely archaeological project funded by a Russian oligarch has unearthed evidence of Jewish life so ancient it makes Vladimir Putin’s claims of Russian Orthodox dominance look like yesterday’s news.
Bankrolled by businessman Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation, a sprawling first-century Jewish quarter has emerged hidden beneath the soil of Phanagoria along the Black Sea.
The Jewish quarter sat at the intersection of two main streets in the city’s wealthiest district, complete with an irrigated garden where massive ceramic jars stored water for what might have been an orchard.