The vessels were made of easily worked, soft local limestone, found in abundance in Jerusalem and especially on Mount Scopus and on the Mount of Olives

The stone vessel industry that flourished in Jerusalem during the 1st century CE is clearly related to the strict observance of Jewish laws governing ritual purity, according to which stone does not absorb impurity. (Mishna, Kelim 10:1; Parah 5:5) The purity of stone vessels is also mentioned in the New Testament, in the miracle of the changing of water into wine at Cana. (John 2: 1-7)

They are presumably from a cave found as a workshop for these in the hills of Jerusalem. This type of cup was found in the burnt house of the Second temple period old city of Jerusalem. The priests were required at all times to be ritually pure and since stone vessels (unlike metal and pottery) cannot be defiled they preferred their use. Cups of this type were therefore manufactured in Jerusalem from local limestone.

The material culture of the Second Temple period was marked by the appearance of a different type of stone vessel, made of chalk (A soft Limestone). The presence of these vessels mainly in characteristically Jewish areas, such as Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee, their absence generally from non-Jewish areas, and their sudden disappearance after the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar-Kokhba Revolt suggest that the stone vessel industry during the Second Temple period was a distinct Jewish phenomenon connected with Jerusalem and the Temple, Jewish religious law, and the Jewish population

Meausrements: Height: 11.5 cm - Diameter: 6.5 cm

Condition: Professionally repaired as shown in the pictures

Found in Jerusalem, Israel

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