Yehuda Rapuano

Artifacts uncovered at Ein Yael confirm the presence of a Christian settlement in Byzantine times (fourth–seventh centuries A.D.). A 4- by 5-inch piece of white marble, with a relief carving of a cross surrounded by a wreath, broken off an architectural element, may represent part of the remains of a Byzantine church or monastery that archaeologists believe once stood on the site. Discovery of such a building would support the author’s suggestion that Ein Yael may have been the site of Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, because Byzantine churches and monasteries were often erected on important Biblical sites.