Cave of Horror

Part of a series on the
Bar Kokhba revolt
Participants Jews of Judaea Simon bar Kokhba Yeshua ben Galgula Rabbi Akiva Eleazar of Modi'im Ten Martyrs Roman Empire Hadrian Quintus Tineius Rufus Sextus Julius Severus Gaius Quinctius Certus Poblicius Marcellus
Events Aelia Capitolina Siege of Betar
Sites Bar Kokhba hiding complexes Bar kokhba refuge caves Cave of Horror Cave of Letters Destroyed sites Horvat 'Ethri Horvat Bad Issa Herodium Betar
Findings Bar Kokhba revolt coinage Bar Kokhba weights Archive of Babatha
Literary sources Cassius Dio Rabbinic literature Babylonian Talmud Jerusalem Talmud Rabbinic stance on Bar Kokhba revolt
v t e

Cave of Horror (Hebrew: מערת האימה, lit. 'Me'arat Ha'Eima') is the nickname given to what archaeologists have catalogued as Nahal Hever Cave 8 (8Hev)^[1] of the Judaean Desert, Israel, where the remains of Jewish refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt (c. 132–136 AD) were found.^[2]

Location

The cave lies in the cliffs towering from the south over the wadi known in Hebrew as Nahal Hever.^[3] Nearby, in the cliffs on the opposite side of the stream, is the Cave of Letters, where many documents from the Bar Kokhba revolt were uncovered.^[3]

Discoveries

Bar Kokhba revolt

At the top of the cliff above the Cave of Horror were the ruins of a Roman camp, similar to the one found above the Cave of Letters.

The skeletons of 40 men, women and children were discovered inside. Of the 40 dead the names of three are known, since inscribed potsherds (ostraca) bearing their names were found placed on their remains.^[1]

In investigations following the first one by Yadin, a number of fragments of letters and writings were discovered in the cave, among them a number of Bar Kokhba coins and a Greek copy of the biblical Book of the Twelve,^[4][5] an already old scroll by the time it was brought into the cave since it was dated to 50-1 BC.^[5] Some 60 years later, in March 2021, archaeologists discovered new fragments belonging to the same scroll, a Greek translation of the Book of the Twelve, different from the Septuagint and with the name of God, Yahweh, written in Old Hebrew script among the otherwise Greek text.^[6] The newly discovered fragments, which belong to the Books of Zechariah and Nahum, contain surprising variations compared to the Masoretic text commonly used today.^[6] No scroll fragments had been discovered by archaeologists in the previous approximately 60 years.^[6]

Chalcolithic child burial

The partially mummified 6000-year-old remains of a child, probably a girl aged between 6 and 12, were found in March 2021 under two flat stones in a shallow pit grave with the help of CT (CAT) scan. The burial dates to the Chalcolithic period. The child had been buried in a fetal position and covered with a cloth resembling a small blanket, wrapped around its head and chest, but not its feet.^[6] According to the Israel Antiquities Authority the burial was found along with 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls. Fragments were Greek translations of the books of Nahum and Zechariah from the Book of the 12 Minor Prophets. The only text written in Hebrew was the name of God.^{[7][8][9][10]}

See also

• Archaeology of Israel
• List of the Dead Sea Scrolls

References

Further reading

• Y. Yadin, The Search for Bar Kokhba - The Discovery of the Judean Desert Caves and the Letters of the Leader of the Revolt against Rome, Maariv, 1976