Pictures: Pagan-Cult Worship Objects Found

Face-Adorned Cup

Of the 200 objects found during the Israel dig, half were perfectly preserved—including a cup adorned with a sculpted face (pictured in Jerusalem's Israeli Antiquities Authority), archaeologists say.

"It felt like Christmas everyday in this dig," said archaeologist Edwin van den Brink.

Van den Brink said many of the ritual items were imported from Mycenae, Greece, a powerful civilization that peaked between 1400 and 1200 B.C.

He suspects that the objects were used during idol worship in the local temple. But another theory, he said, is that the sacred items were ritually buried when they were no longer needed in the temple—a custom also practiced in modern-day Judaism.

Published June 16, 2010