What can an unfinished Roman theater tell us about a tumultuous period in ancient Jerusalem? Quite a lot, say archaeologists.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority recently chipped away at understanding the region's distant past by announcing this week that recent excavations uncovered the remains of what they believe was once a small theater or public space. The discovery was made as archaeologists were excavating parts of the Western Wall, one of the most revered structures in the Jewish faith.

The ancient wall encases what the Jewish people refer to as the Temple Mount and what Muslims refer to as Haram esh-Sharif. Today, the religious site has major significance for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.

Archaeologists began excavations in the hopes