JERUSALEM, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli archaeologists have found in Jerusalem a burial cave with the cremated remains of a woman dating back about 2,300 years, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Tel Aviv University said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Bent iron nails were found next to the woman's remains, alongside a rare well-preserved grave good of a folding bronze box mirror, the statement added.

The findings were uncovered on a rocky slope on Hebron Road in south Jerusalem, northwest of the village of Ramat Rachel.

The researchers believed the buried individual was a young Greek courtesan, or a "hetaira" in ancient Greek, who accompanied a Hellenistic government official or a senior military staff member on his journey through the land of Israel during the Hellenistic occupation.

As married women in ancient Greece seldom ventured outside their homes or accompanied their husbands on military campaigns, the woman found in the cave was likely an unmarried courtesan, added the researchers.

They noted that the bone remains are the earliest evidence in Israel of cremation in the Hellenistic period, and the mirror is only the second of its type that has been discovered to date in Israel.

At that time, such bronze mirrors were regarded as luxury items in Greek women's dowry, or gifts by men to their hetairai. Enditem

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