A massive cultic stone found in an Israelite mansion destroyed by the Assyrians in the late 8th century BCE might offer additional evidence for the historicity of a religious reform carried out by biblical King Hezekiah to centralize Jewish cult in the Temple of Jerusalem a few years earlier, a new study has suggested.

According to the paper’s author, Bar-Ilan University Prof. Avraham Faust, the stone might have been taken down when Hezekiah curbed local devotional practices, as narrated in the Bible.

Published in the 2026 issue of the Hebrew University’s peer-reviewed Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, the study focuses on a massive artifact measuring approximately 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) in height and weighing about 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds), unearthed at Tel ‘Eton in the southeastern part of Israel’s Judean Shephalah (lowlands), a little over 20 miles southeast of Ashkelon. The stone was found divided into two segments, presenting matching indentations.

Known in Hebrew as a “massebah,” or standing stone in English, this type of monument was prevalent in Near Eastern cults at the time, Faust told The Times of Israel during a video interview.

“Standing stones were a common religious feature in the ancient Middle East and beyond from prehistory to a much later period, and are attested in both archaeological finds and written sources, including in the Bible,” Faust said.

“People used large stones as a symbol,” he added. “Their exact meaning is debated, but all scholars agree that they were used in religious contexts.”

This particular artifact was especially imposing and was found incorporated into a platform in the largest room of a typical Israelite “four-room house,” suggesting that by the time the building was destroyed, someone had taken the stone down and repurposed it.

“Four-room house” refers to a structure divided into four spaces, sometimes further subdivided into smaller rooms, which marked a very common setup during the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE), when most of the biblical narratives are said to have taken place.

According to radiocarbon analysis, the Tel ‘Eton building was erected in the late 11th or early 10th centuries BCE, and went through different phases and transformations until the Assyrians conquered Israel and destroyed the town and the luxurious house, with a blaze that engulfed the building and left many of the objects inside intact.

The stone was discovered in the largest........

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