A matter of interpretation...

A team of archaeologists were excavating in Israel when they dug into a long-sealed cave. Painted across one wall of the cave were a series of symbols. It was considered a unique find and all indications were that the cave was sealed at least three thousand years ago.

Presenting his findings in front of the International Archaeological Society, the leader of the team pointed at a projected slide of the first symbol and said 'This appears to represent a woman. From this we conclude that their society was family oriented and held women in high esteem.'

'The second symbol is a donkey, so they had clearly progressed to taming livestock - probably for tilling the soil as we've tentatively identified the next symbol as a shovel.'

'The fourth symbol, a fish, suggests that they traded with distant peoples, as the nearest rivers or large bodies of water were many days travel away by foot.'

'Finally, the last symbol, the most exciting of all. It appears to be the Star of David, indicating they were early Hebrews!'

The audience applauded enthusiastically, but one little old man stood up in the back of the room and called out: 'Idiots! Hebrew is read from right to left. It says "Holy Mackerel, Dig The Ass On That Woman."'