Can You Read This?

If so - contact the archaeologists! From the Jerusalem Post: Jul 29, 2009 16:53 Updated Jul 30, 2009 9:38 Know what this says? By ETGAR LEFKOVITS A unique Aramaic inscription on a stone cup commonly used for ritual purity during the first century has been uncovered in a dig on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, an archeologist said Wednesday. The six-week excavation is being carried out within the Gan Sobev Homot Yerushalayim national park, close to the Zion Gate of the Old City. The 10-line Aramaic script, which is clear but cryptic, is being deciphered by a team of epigraphic experts in an effort to determine the meaning of the text, said Prof. Shimon Gibson, of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who is co-directing the excavation. "This is a difficult script, not one that is worn or graded, which demands research," Gibson said. He estimated that it would take a couple of months to determine what the inscription says. "It is like digging out grandparents' hand-written letters," he quipped. [Oh please, it wouldn't take me a 'couple of months' to read anything written by my grandparents, unless it was in Polish.] Gibson said the find uncovered two weeks ago was rare because few inscriptions from the Second Temple Period had been discovered in Jerusalem. The dig also uncovered a sequence of building dating from the First and Second Temple periods through to the Byzantine and Early Islamic eras. The additional finds include a house complex with a mikve ritual bath featuring a remarkably well preserved vaulted ceiling. Three bread ovens - dated to 70 CE, when Titus and the Roman army stormed the city - were also found in the house. Archeologists believe that this area of Jerusalem's Upper City was the priestly quarter during Second Temple times. A large arched building with a mosaic floor from the Byzantine period preserved to a height of 3 meters was also uncovered. It may be part of a building complex or street associated with the nearby Church of St. Mary.