The world's earliest-known stone inscription of the Ten Commandments has been sold at auction in Beverly Hills for $850,000.

Heritage Auctions said the tablet was snapped up at a public sale of ancient Biblical archaeology items. The 61cm square marble slab is inscribed in an early Hebrew script called Samaritan.

It is thought likely to have adorned the entrance of a synagogue destroyed by the Romans between AD 400 and 600, or by the Crusaders in the 11th century.

The Israeli Antiquities Authorities approved export to the United States in 2005, Heritage said, adding that the only condition is that it must be displayed in a public museum.

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