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Israeli archaeologists had hoped to finally uncover the mystery of the ancient tomb of the Maccabees -- but they have been thwarted once again. Archaeological authorities said Monday they had carried out another excavation at a site near Modiin northwest of Jerusalem to determine "once and for all" whether the tomb was indeed there. The tomb of the family that led the Jewish revolt against the Greek dynasty of the Seleucids in the 2nd century BC is believed to have been among ancient Judea's most impressive structures. "We exposed again the base of what survived from this magnificent building --...

Israeli archaeologists may be one step closer to solving a riddle that has vexed explorers for more than a century: the location of the tomb of the biblical Maccabees which they recognized by finding the signature of the Cross.A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority shows The Holy Cross designed on a mosaic floor at an archaeological site at Ben Shemen Forest near the Israeli city of ModiinOn Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, Amit Reem, an Israeli archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said “the cross is a clue” as it appears on the floor of the only Byzantine-era site burial...

In 1970, a rock-cut tomb was discovered by workers building a private house in Jerusalem's Givat Hamivtar neighborhood. Inside the two-chambered burial, dating back to the first century BCE, archeologists found a decorated ossuary – a limestone box containing the bones of the deceased – and an enigmatic Aramaic inscription affixed to the wall. "I am Abba, son of Eleazar the priest," proclaimed the 2,000-year-old text. "I am Abba, the oppressed, the persecuted, born in Jerusalem and exiled to Babylon, who brought back Mattathiah son of Judah and buried him in the cave that I purchased." Who was Abba, this...