Pyramid structure in the Judean Desert north of Nahal Zohar. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA.

What is a pyramid doing in the Judean Desert? While certainly not a pyramid of the type found in Egypt, the pile of stones sitting on a lonely hilltop north of Nahal Zohar that overlooks the Dead Sea is certainly a mystery.

FREE ebook: Israel: An Archaeological Journey. Sift through the storied history of ancient Israel.

First Name:*

Last Name:*

Email Address: * * Indicates a required field.

SUBMIT

If you don’t want to receive the Bible History Daily newsletter, uncheck this box.

Originally dated to the First Temple period (c. 1000–586 BCE), recent excavations of the site by the Israel Antiquities Authority have redated it to the Hellenistic period (c. 332–37 BCE) based, in part, on coins discovered at the site. “What we have here is one of the richest and most intriguing archaeological excavations ever found in the Judean Desert,” said the excavation directors. “This pyramidal structure we discovered is huge and made of hand-hewn stones, each one weighing hundreds of kilograms.”

Although the excavation team was able to get new insights into the dating of the site, the structure’s original purpose remains a mystery. “We still do not know for certain what the building’s purpose was: Is this a guard tower, guarding an important commercial route through which the Dead Sea resources of salt and bitumen were transported to the coastal ports? Or at some point was this enormous structure on the mountaintop marking a grave, or serving as a monument in ancient history?”

Aerial view of the Judean Desert site near Nahal Zohar. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA.

Among the discoveries at the site were fragments of papyrus documents written in Greek, bronze coins from the time of the Ptolemies and Antiochus IV, weapons, wooden tools, and fabrics. Although some of these artifacts would typically have disintegrated over the 2,000-plus years between the Hellenistic period and today, the dry climate of the Judean Desert is well suited for preserving organic materials, such as the famed Dead Sea Scrolls.

Papyrus fragment discovered in the pyramid. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA.

The excavations at Nahal Zohar are part of an ongoing project by the IAA, in conjunction with the Ministry of Heritage and the Civil Administration, to document and excavate sites throughout the Judean Desert. During the course of the project, the IAA has systematically surveyed the entire Judean Desert region—including 110 miles of cliffs—and located about 900 caves. With the help of rappelling equipment, digital technologies, and unique documentation methods, thousands of rare items have been uncovered, including scrolls, papyrus fragments, wooden utensils, weapons, leather items, and coin hoards.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

The Pyramid of Khay

The Nubian Pyramids of Sedeinga

What Is the Judean Desert?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

Past Perfect: Beneath the Pyramids

Who Really Built the Pyramids?

The Hasmonean Kings: Jewish or Hellenistic?

The post A Pyramid in the Judean Desert appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

The caves at Qumran in the Judean Desert. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Also known as the Wilderness of Judah, the Judean Desert is only mentioned by name a few times in the Bible. However, it played an important role in several biblical and non-biblical events, including as a refuge for David, a place of temptation for Jesus, and the last stand of Jewish rebels against Rome. With steep mountain slopes to the west and the lowest place on earth (the Dead Sea) to the east, the Judean Desert is one of the Holy Land’s more unique and awe-inspiring regions.

The eBook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present, and Future, brings together articles and interviews with the world’s leading experts on the scrolls. Receive your free copy today!

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

Wilderness Wanderings

Hiking through the wadi at Ein Gedi. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

The Judean Desert consists not of rolling sand dunes but instead is a rocky plateau cut by cavernous valleys (wadis) that ends abruptly in a steep escarpment dropping down hundreds of feet to the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley to the east. Largely lacking vegetation except for seasonal grasses, the Judean Desert is home to ibexes, rock hyraxes, and a variety of reptiles and birds. The area has been sparsely inhabited throughout history, with most of its settlements being located near wadis and desert springs, such as Ein Gedi.

The Judean Desert features many caves along its wadis and the steep escarpment that abuts the Dead Sea and the Jordan Rift Valley. It was in these caves that David hid from King Saul and cut off a corner of his robe (1 Samuel 24). Throughout history, people have hid both themselves and their possessions in these caves. This includes important archaeological finds such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (also known as the Judean Desert Scrolls), which were discovered in both man-made and natural caves throughout the region. Archaeologists have also discovered caches of Roman swords, cultic objects, and much more. The rugged and secluded beauty of the region also made it an ideal place for Christian monasteries, with several dozen having been built from the Byzantine period (fourth to seventh centuries CE) to more recent times.

St. George Monastery in Wadi Qelt. Dr. Avishai Teicher Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Beyond its caves and ravines, the desert is also home to several important mountains, including the Mount of Temptation, which towers above the nearby city of Jericho and is widely associated with the narrative of Jesus’s 40-day wandering in the wilderness (Mark 1). In addition, Masada was a mountaintop fortress first built by the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus and later turned into a palace by Herod the Great. It was also at Masada that some of the last Jewish rebels famously sought refuge during the First Jewish Revolt (66–72 CE).

View of the Dead Sea from on top of Masada. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Related reading in Bible History Daily

What Is the Negev?

What Is the Shephelah?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

New Scrolls from the Judean Desert

Bar-Kokhba Revolt Coins

Masada Shall Never Fail (to Surprise) Again

The post What Is the Judean Desert? appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

IAA operation aerial view.
Credit: Guy Fitoussi, Israel Antiquities Authority.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced in March, 2021 that explorations in the Judean desert south of Jerusalem revealed scores of new scroll fragments hidden away in secluded caves during the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 C.E.). The discovered parchment fragments feature Greek translations of the Books of Zechariah and Nahum, both of which are included among The Twelve Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. They are the first scrolls discovered in the Judean desert through excavation in more than 60 years.

The Scrolls Fragments before conservation in the IAA Lab.
Credit: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority

Opening the scroll in the IAA labs
Credit: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority

Scroll-Horror Cave
Credit: Shai Halevi Israel Antiquities Authority

The scroll fragments, along with coins and arrowheads dating to the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, were recovered from the so-called Cave of Horrors, where earlier excavations in the 1960s had identified the remains of dozens of men, women, and children who died while hiding out from the advancing Roman army.^[1] The original excavators had already found a handful of scroll fragments with Greek translations of the Twelve Minor Prophets, though this new discovery adds significant new information to our understanding of the Hebrew Bible’s history and textual transmission.

Arrowheads found in the desert
Credit: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority

“When we think about the biblical text, we think about something very static,” said Joe Uziel, head of the IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls unit. “It wasn’t static. There are slight differences, and some of those differences are important.”

FREE ebook: The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery and Meaning. What the Dead Sea Scrolls teach about Judaism and Christianity.

Email(Required)

REQUEST FREE BOOK

Scroll scholar and regular BAR contributor Sidnie White Crawford of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, is similarly excited by the new finds. Crawford believes that even though the fragments come from the previously known Greek Minor Prophets Scroll,^[2] they nonetheless will help fill in some additional gaps in the text. “The most interesting thing about the new fragments is that they have been carbon-dated to the second century C.E.,” said Crawford. As certain elements of the text were stylistically dated to the first century B.C.E., she said, the carbon dating may provide new evidence of the conservatism of certain scripts over time.

Basket from Murbaat Cave
Credit: Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority

The recent IAA investigations at the “Cave of Horrors” are part of a broader, multi-year campaign to survey the secluded Judean desert, including hundreds of caves, in search of scrolls and other artifacts that the IAA believes are under threat from looting and destruction. In addition to the recent scroll discoveries, the survey campaign, which began in 2017, has recovered an exceptionally well-preserved woven basket dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, about 10,500 years ago, and the mummified remains of a child who was laid to rest in a cave more than 6,000 years ago.

6000 year-old skeleton
Credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority

Notes:

[1] For more on the original discovery of the “Cave of Horrors” and the nearby and equally significant “Cave of Letters,” see Baruch Safrai, “Recollections from 40 Years Ago: More Scrolls Lie Buried,” BAR, Jan/Feb 1993.

[2] Emanuel Tov, The Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever (8HevXIIgr), Discoveries in the Judean Desert, Vol. 8 (Clarendon 1990).

A version of this post first appeared in Bible History Daily in March, 2021

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Dead Sea Scrolls Online: IAA Expands Digital Library

Qumran Phylacteries Reveal Nine New Dead Sea Scrolls

Ten Commandments Dead Sea Scroll to Be Displayed in Israel

The Curse of Ham—A New Reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

• Roman Cult, Jewish Rebels Share Jerusalem Cave Site
• Dead Sea Scrolls Spotlight: The Temple Scroll

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

The post Scrolls Hidden During Bar Kokhba Revolt Discovered appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.

Through a series of physical and chemical tests, Loll and her team determined that the fragments had been deliberately manipulated to look ancient. The forgers had used old pieces of leather and written on them with ink in modern times. Using a microscope, the investigators were able to see pools of ink in cracks of the weathered leather, cracks that would not have been there when the leather was new. Additionally, they noted places where the ink overlaid the uneven mineral crust of the ancient leather. Had the fragment been written in ancient times, this would not be the case.

Further, the material of the 16 fragments was also suspicious. The majority of the authentic Dead Sea Scrolls were written on parchment, whereas these fragments were written on leather. Although the leather was ancient, it was still an unusual writing surface and raised a red flag for investigators.

These 16 fakes tricked biblical scholars, collectors, and the founder of the Museum of the Bible alike. Yet there were always skeptics, who thought that the new Dead Sea Scroll fragments appearing on the antiquities market after 2002 were not authentic. This report seems to settle things—or does it?

Even after this thorough investigation, not everyone is entirely convinced. According to renowned biblical scholar Emanuel Tov, who served as editor-in-chief of the official International Dead Sea Scroll Publication team for two decades, in his mind these fragments have not all been proven to be fakes beyond doubt. Since similar tests have not been performed on authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments and fragments of later texts from the Judean desert, a baseline for comparison hasn’t been established. As quoted in National Geographic, Emanuel Tov explains, “The report expects us to conclude that abnormalities abound without demonstrating what is normal.”

We will wait to see how the saga unfolds. Read the full report.

The post Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Exposed appeared first on Biblical Archaeology Society.