Mystery of the Jewish message found hidden in a secret chamber

The underground cave, which appears to have been used as a ritual bath, or miqwe, in the first century AD, had been plastered before being covered in symbols and inscriptions.

Written in mud, soot and scratched into the wall itself, the apparent graffiti includes Aramaic and Hebrew scripts, many of which appear to be names, alongside other symbols.

These include images that appear to be boats, plants, palm trees and possibly even a menorah – the branched lamp used in Jewish temples.

However, the meaning of the 2,000-year-old inscriptions remains mystery that is puzzling archaeologists who are studying the site.

Royee Greenwald, excavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: 'There is no doubt that this is a very significant discovery.

'Such a concentration of inscriptions and symbols from the Second Temple period at one archaeological site, and in such a state of preservation, is rare and unique and most intriguing.'

Alexander Weigmann, who is joint director of the excavation added that the symbols on the wall appear in common visual arts during the Second Temple period in Jerusalem.

He said: 'On the one hand the symbols can be interpreted as secular, and on the other as symbols of religious significance and deep spirituality.'

Ritual baths, or miqwe, were used for cleansing before the Sabbath and holy days.

However, to find graffiti scrawled on the walls has baffled experts. They say while some of the symbols appear to be religious, others appear to be something else.

They said the graffiti could be an attempt to convey a deeply spiritual and religious message or perhaps even a cry for help during the destruction of the Temple and war of 66-70AD.

For example, the image of the menorah is 'exceptional' because at the time people abstained from portraying such a sacred object.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, said researchers were now trying to unravel the relationship between the symbols and the inscriptions.

They are particularly puzzled about why they were drawn in the ritual bath, a place of religious significance in itself.

(dailymail.co.uk)