The Israel Antiquities Authority is calling on the public in an attempt to solve a mystery that came its way–what was the purpose of an item covered with real gold and weighing 8.5 kilos, which had been hidden in an old building in a cemetery in Jerusalem? 

 Several months ago a maintenance worker at the cemetery, discovered a suspicious object that was buried inside an old building within the precincts of the cemetery. The worker alerted police sappers who carried out a controlled explosion and revealed a gold colored metal object. The object was turned over to Antiquities Authority inspectors for examination; however, the archaeologists announced that they had never before encountered such an item. It was sent for metallurgical analysis and a series of other tests by experts in order to try to understand how it was used.
 

Now the Israel Antiquities Authority is calling on the public for help in clarifying how and why the object came to be in the bottom of an old building in the cemetery, and what it was used for?