ISRAEL: A mosque dating to the earliest decades of Islam was identified in the city of Tiberias, near the Sea of Galilee. Researchers believe it dates to around A.D. 670, just a generation after the death of the prophet Muhammad. Tiberias was founded by the Romans in the 1st century A.D. and conquered by Muslim forces in A.D. 635. Because most other mosques from this period are still in use and therefore can’t be excavated, this new discovery will provide archaeologists with an unprecedented opportunity to investigate a religious building dating to Islam’s infancy.