After the persecutions of the Roman emperor Hadrian around 135 CE, the Sanhedrin—or rabbinic high council—relocated to the Galilean town of Usha, making it an important center of Jewish religious life. Recently, an Israeli high-school student discovered a rare potsherd at the site of the ancient town. Yori Yalon reports:
Seventeen-year-old Aviv Weizman participated in a survival course that included excavations throughout Israel—organized by the Education Ministry and the Israel Archaeological Authority (IAA)—when she came across the amazing find at the ancient site of Usha, . . . where the unusual pottery sherd was found, peeping out of the group between the walls of a building.
According to Navit Popovitch, the IAA curator for the classical period, “The fragment is part of a ‘magical mirror’ from the Byzantine period, the 4th–6th centuries CE. A glass mirror, for protection against the evil eye, was placed in the middle of the plaque: the idea was that the evil spirit, such as a demon, who looked in the mirror, would see his own reflection, and this would protect the owner of the mirror. Similar mirror plaques have been found in the past as funerary gifts in tombs, to protect the deceased in their journey to the world to come.”
Read more on Israel Hayom: https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/08/06/student-discovers-ancient-magical-mirror-during-excavations-in-north/