In 1 Peter 2:4-10 (NIV) we read a comparison between Jesus as a rejected living stones, and those Peter is writing to being likewise living stones. He says that though they were once not a people, now they are a people, just as that which was once rejected as a stone by the builders is now a cornerstone. He seems to be writing to Gentiles if this is the case.
During the Maccabean revolt, Judas the Maccabee is said to have remove "defiled stones" from the temple. So we read in 1 Maccabees 4:41-46 (NRSV):
Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.
What were the stones removed from the temple? And how likely is it that Peter is alluding to them?