Early Jewish ossuary and lid, Roman period, c.1st century BC- 1st century AD (limestone)

The hollow rectangular box on four low feet, finely engraved on one side with two large roundels, each with a sixteen-petalled rosette with a central depression, encircled by a scalloped band, a fluted altar between the roundels, topped with a palmette surrounded by an arched border of figure-eights, flanked by two stylized flowers, a graffito, perhaps later, to the right of the stepped base of the altar, reading, "Yohannan bar Sh...," a circle of concentric rings and a central depression in each corner, framed by a band of stylized laurel, the central lozenge with a circular depression, the gabled lid with depressions at the ends to serve as handles.