More on that marble baptismal (?) artifact

LITURGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY (?) UPDATE: Marble bowl buried 1,300 years ago in Golan church sheds light on ancient baptisms. Found in a cathedral destroyed by an earthquake in 749, a unique liturgical object suggests the ceremony there featured three moments of anointment, a ritual never documented before (Rossella Tercatin, Times of Israel).

I have already noted this discovery here. This article covers some of the same ground, but also interviews another archaeologist who offers a different interpretation of the artifact.

While we're at it, this Ancient Jew Review book note on a new (and in itself important) book by Georgia Frank is of some background interest:

Unfinished Christians: Ritual Objects and Silent Subjects in Late Antiquity (Ethan Laster)

Chapter two is especially relevant.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.