Strata: Special Collections

This revealing exhibition tells the story of the religious and cultural origins of early Christianity through ancient Jewish and Christian artifacts recovered from the Holy Land. Visitors can examine more than 70 artifacts unearthed from Hellenistic and Herodian Palestine, including ancient coins, lamps and juglets, as well as typical Jewish burial ossuaries from the time of Jesus.

Visitors will also be able to view some of the earliest Jewish writings that gave rise to Christian thought and belief. Among the documents on display is a Dead Sea Scroll that preserves the oldest known copy of the messianic prophecies from the Book of Isaiah. The exhibit also showcases for the first time in public the controversial Dead Sea Scroll in Stone from the collection of Swiss collector David Jeselsohn, which some say reveals the Jewish origins of the Christian belief in a resurrected Messiah.^b