A stone tablet which some experts say dates back to the ancient Jewish Temple and provides rare confirmation of biblical narrative broke in half during transport to an Israeli police station.
An antiquities collector suspected of illegally possessing the tablet turned it over to police in Tel Aviv yesterday.
The shoebox-sized slabof black sandstone broken in half while police were taking it to Israel's Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem.
But the breakage could aid scientists studying it, as they will be able to check the inner layers to determine if the stone is indeed 2800 years old.
The authority will form a commission of experts to study the tablet and its ancient Hebrew inscription resembling passages from the Book of Kings.
Experts at Israel's Geological Institute, which studied the stone at the request of the collector, believe it is authentic and dates to the 9th century BC.
But Israel Museum experts on ancient script, who also researched the tablet, believe it could be a fake.
