Roman Legion Symbols Found in Ancient Cave

[M. Demetrius]

That would at least explain why the standard itself looks so odd - an actual Roman soldier would have accurate knowledge of its construction and appearance, but a Jewish rebel who might only have seen one from a distance and be relying on memory might easily come up with something like this symbol.

Did other armies ever use standards? I know the Judean mandate not to make idols or images, but some form of standard must have been used for identification of different units. And in armies of the other civilizations who came through the regions at different times, were there not standards of one sort or another?

I guess my central question is, just because some artifacts in a cave can be positively dated to a certain time, does it stand to reason that the engravings on the wall were necessarily made at the same time? Could not those engravings have been there already when the occupants who left the artifacts arrived? or added some decades later? Just rambling as usual. :|