Israel features Dead Sea Scrolls found in a deserted stool of treasures

The scrolls, written in Greek except for the name of God appearing in ancient Hebrew, include passages from the Book of the Little Prophets, including the books of Zechariah and Nahum .

The verses written on dozens of parchment fragments were found in a complex and challenging national archaeological activity carried out by the Antiquarian Authority of Israel on the cliffs of the Judean Desert since 2017, as they raced to find them. lorg ro looters.

The scrolls were taken out of the cave of terror in the Nahal Hever sanctuary at Judean Desert, about 80 meters below a cliff top, with gaps on each side and could only be reached by rappelling down the cliff.

The historic find comes 60 years after the last discovery of biblical scrolls in a cave on the West Bank.

Scrolls of the Dead Sea, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s, dates back to the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE. They include the earliest copies of biblical texts and documents that explain the beliefs of a Jewish group that are not understood at all.

In addition to the scrolling fragments, the excavation announced Tuesday found amazing finds in the area from different times.

The find includes deposits of rare coins from the days of the Bar-Kokhba Uprising, a Jewish uprising against Rome between 132 and 136 CE; The 6,000-year-old skeleton of a female baby, wrapped in cloth and spiced, and a large basket dating back 10,500 years, is probably the oldest in the world and in perfect condition.

Announcing the discovery, Israeli Antiquities Authority Director Israel Hasson urged the government to invest in further excavation of the area.

“The recently discovered scrolling clips are a wake-up call to the state,” Hasson said.

“Resources need to be allocated to complete this historically important work. We need to make sure we get back all the data that has not yet been found in the caves, before Some things are more valuable, “he said.

“The desert crew showed exceptional courage, enthusiasm and passion for a purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, surviving thick dust and suffocating, and returning with gifts of immeasurable value to man. ”

The fragments of the Greek scroll of the Book of the Twelve Miniatures were strangely written by two different writers, researchers said.

Preservation and analysis of the fragments made by Tanya Bitler, Dr. Oren Ableman and Beatriz Riestra of the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit of the Antiquarian Authority of Israel allowed a reconstruction of 11 lines of text, partly shared by the Greek translation of Zechariah 8: 16–17.

The whole section states: “Here are the things you must do: Speak the truth to one another, bring true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not defile evil against one another, and do not love corruption, for these are all things that I hate – says the Lord. “

Also mentioned on another fragment are verses from Nahum 1: 5–6, which read: The earth warms before him, the world and all who inhabit it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can resist his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are destroyed because of him. “

Comparing the text in the recently discovered snippets with text from other existing versions reveals a number of differences, some of which are surprising.

They shed light on the distribution of the biblical text to the Bar-Kokhba Revolution, reporting on changes that occurred over time to the current version.

Additional items left by the Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar-Kokhba Uprising include a hoard of coins with Jewish symbols such as a harp and date palm, arrowheads and spears, clothing knitwear, sandals and even lice combs.

The child’s spice skeleton is thought to be 6,000 years old. Preliminary examination of a CT scan of the skeleton reveals that the child was 6–12 years old.

A prehistoric Ronit Lupu from the Antiquarian Authority of Israel described the find.

“Moving two flat stones, we found a shallow pit that had been deliberately dug, in which a baby’s skeleton was placed in a fetal position,” she said.

“It was covered with a shroud around his head and chest, like a small blanket, with his legs protruding from it. It was obvious who had buried the baby folded it up and pushed the edges of the cloth underneath. , just like a parent covering a baby in a blanket.

“A small bundle of clothes was welded in the child’s hands. The child’s skeleton and clothes folding were well preserved and due to the climate in the cave, a process of natural sputtering had taken place; the skin , the tendons and even the hair was partially preserved, despite the passage of time. ”

Another rare basket found in desert caves is a roof with a roof that was also well preserved due to the high temperature and very atmospheric atmosphere of the area.

The basket dates from the Prehistoric Neolithic period, about 10,500 years ago.