Experts have challenged the authenticity of a rare 2,800-year-old papyrus scroll that mentions the city of Jerusalem from the time of the First Temple in the seventh century BC.
When the scroll was unveiled last week, shortly after a controversial UNESCO resolution effectively denied Judaism's historical links to Temple Mount, it was hailed as the first ever mention of Jerusalem found outside the Bible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the papyrus as: "A postcard from the past to UNESCO."
The papyrus was carbon-dated to more than 2,500 years ago.
But Haaretz reported a subsequent session of an antiquities authority conference when archaeologist Aren Maeir, Professor of Bar-Ilan University, cast doubt on the Jerusalem papyrus' authenticity and said it should not have been publicised because it was clear in advance that it would be controversial.
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He said: "How do we know it isn't a forgery intended for the antiquities market?" There were well-known cases where writing was forged on ancient papyrus.
He added: "It's very possible that only the papyrus itself is ancient. In my humble opinion, the need for additional tests is glaring, especially if a government agency is publishing this and giving it a seal of approval. Why wait for the arguments and only then do the additional tests? They should have done them first."
Professor Christopher Rollston of George Washington University also wrote on his blog that he believed the document was a forgery.
"The fact that the papyrus itself has been carbon dated to the 7th century BCE certainly does not mean that the writing on the papyrus is ancient. In fact, it really means nothing," he said.
"After all, ancient papyrus is readily available for purchase online (check the web and see!), thus, no modern forger worth his or her salt would forge an inscription on modern papyrus. Rather, he or she would purchase some ancient papyrus online and then write a text on it.
"It happens fairly often (the Marzeah Papyrus is a good example of this, as is the Jesus Wife Papyrus)."
Those behind the discovery defended the papyrus. The fact that it was folded when found made forgery unlikely and also it contains unusual words unlikely to be used by a forger. Similar methods to those used on the Dead Sea Scrolls were used to authenticate it.
The document is from the "King's maidservant". The ancient Hebrew reads: [מא]מת. המלך. מנערתה. נבלים. יין. ירשלמה, which translates as: "From the King's maidservant, from Naʽarat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem."
The papyrus had been "illicitly plundered" from one of the Judean Desert caves by a band of antiquities robbers.
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