Middle East Focus: Israel & Antiquity: Telling a Byzantine Navel from an Ancient Hole in the Ground

Arabia Deserta

Israel & Antiquity: Telling a Byzantine Navel from an Ancient Hole in the Ground

“An Israeli government decision to relocate a hospital ward from its planned site on top of ancient graves has sparked heavy criticism from Israel's medical community, while marking a victory for the country's ultra-Orthodox religious political parties. Construction on an emergency room in the southern city of Ashkelon was halted when human remains were discovered at the site. Archaeologists determined the bones belonged to Christians or pagans from the Byzantine period. But Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, insisted they were Jewish bones that shouldn't be moved according to religious practice……….”

They can also be Arab bones, it is very likely, or even Persian bones. How could these rabbis know? Can they tell a Byzantine navel from an ancient hole in the ground?
Cheers
mhg

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