Stolen from Israel and returned after 20 years of trouble

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Monday that the two antiques are 2,000-year-old sling stones that were left at the Museum of Islamic and Middle Israeli Cultures near the southern Israeli city of Be’ er Sheva. A museum employee found the stones in a bag in the museum’s courtyard with a note that read written in Hebrew, “These are two roman ballista balls from Gamla, from a residential quarter at the foot of the summit. I stole them in July 1995 and since then they have brought me nothing but trouble. Please, do not steal antiquities!” The museum handed over the stones, which were chiseled by Roman soldiers or their prisoners, to the Israel Antiquities Authority. “Almost 2,000 such stones were found during the archaeological excavations in the Gamla Nature Reserve, and this is the site where there is the largest number of ballista stones from the Early Roman period. The Romans shot these stones at the defenders of the city in order to keep them away from the wall, and in that way they could approach the wall and break it with a battering ram,” explained archaeologist Danny Syon, who excavated at Gamla for many years.

The pieces will be transferred to the Department of National Treasures at the AAI.