A 2,700-year-old standing stone unearthed at Tel Eton in the Judean Lowlands may provide fresh evidence for the religious reforms traditionally attributed to the biblical King Hezekiah, according to a new study by a Bar-Ilan University archaeologist.
Published in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, the study by Prof. Avraham Faust of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of General History examines a large cultic standing stone, or massebah, that was discovered during excavations at the site and appears to have been deliberately removed from ritual use without being destroyed.
The find could offer a rare glimpse into religious change in the Kingdom of Judah during the late eighth century BCE, when biblical accounts describe Hezekiah as abolishing local places of worship and centralizing religious practice in Jerusalem.
For decades, scholars have debated whether those reforms occurred as described in the Bible or whether the accounts reflect a later ideological tradition. Archaeological evidence has traditionally focused on clear public cultic contexts such as Arad and Beersheba, where interpretations remain contested.
Faust’s study instead turns to evidence from the domestic sphere.
The limestone standing stone, measuring about 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) high and weighing roughly 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds), was discovered in the largest room of what archaeologists call “Building 101,” also identified as a governor’s residence at Tel Eton.
Positioned directly opposite the entrance, it would have been immediately visible to anyone entering the structure or standing in the adjacent courtyard.
Because it served no apparent architectural function and resembles standing stones associated with ritual activity elsewhere in the ancient Near East, researchers believe it functioned as a cultic object.
“The location of the stone suggests that it played an important role in the lives of the building’s occupants,” Faust said.
At a later stage, however, its role changed dramatically. Rather than being smashed or desecrated, the stone was carefully laid on its side and incorporated into a specially constructed stone platform.
According to Faust, the manner in which it was treated may itself be significant.
“Those responsible for changing religious practices may have wished to eliminate the stone’s ritual function, and perhaps wanted the old ritual objects desecrated, but the people who carried out the change seem to have treated it with respect,” he said. “They removed it from use without destroying it, effectively neutralizing its cultic significance while preserving the object itself.”
A biblical archaeology puzzle
The researchers said the stone was incorporated into the platform before Tel Eton was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire at the end of the eighth century BCE, a period that broadly coincides with Hezekiah’s reign.
Faust stopped short of claiming definitive proof that the decommissioning resulted directly from the king’s reforms, but argued that the evidence aligns with other archaeological indications of religious change during the period.
The study highlights the importance of examining homes and administrative buildings, rather than only temples and shrines, for clues about ancient religious life, he said.
While the find does not settle the long-running debate over Hezekiah’s reforms, it offers what Faust described as a rare window into a period of significant religious transformation in ancient Judah and added a potentially important piece to one of biblical archaeology’s most enduring puzzles.
By shifting the focus from official cultic sites to domestic life, the Tel Eton discovery opens a new avenue for exploring one of biblical archaeology’s most enduring questions: how—and how deeply—religious reform reshaped the Kingdom of Judah.
“Archaeology rarely provides a single discovery that settles a long-standing historical debate,” Faust told JNS. “But every well-documented find adds another piece to the puzzle. The standing stone at Tel Eton offers a rare glimpse into how religious change may have been experienced in everyday life, and it strengthens the case that significant transformations were taking place throughout Judah during this period.”
