Some point to the inscription in the Grotto of the Annunciation (in Nazareth) as evidence of the veneration of images. According to Bigham et al., one way to render the inscription is
Under the holy place of M[ary?]
I wrote there the [names]
The image I adored
Of her . . .
However, even
defenders of icon veneration admit that "This inscription is hard to
decipher because the letters are worn." Furthermore, it is not
"sometime between the first and third centuries" as, to quote one
source, "The grotto has part of a mosaic floor dating back to the 5th–6th
century” (emphasis added). To say that an appeal to the graffiti in the Grotto as evidence of image veneration is "flimsy" is being too nice. It is pathetic.
Further Reading:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons