(JNS) - Two Israeli reserve soldiers recently discovered a small, well-preserved Byzantine-era oil lamp at a military staging area in southern Israel near the Gaza border, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.

The find, by Nathaniel Melchior and Alon Segev, part of the 404th Battalion within the Israel Defense Forces' 282nd Fire Brigade, sparked a chain of events that led to the 1,500-year-old artifact's safe handover to the IAA.

"During one of our wanderings in the field, I came across pottery lying upside down, and its round shape attracted me," said Melchior. "It was covere...