"The hiding of the swords and the pilum in deep cracks in the isolated cave north of En Gedi hints that the weapons were taken as booty from Roman soldiers or from the battlefield, and purposely hidden by the Judean rebels for reuse," Klein said in the IAA statement.
The weapons were found when two researchers and an IAA photographer visited the cave to study a stalactite featuring an ancient Hebrew inscription.ĭuring this visit, one of the experts, Asaf Gayer with the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Ariel University, spotted the pilum in a deep, narrow crevice on the cave's upper level. "The dry climatic conditions pertaining in the Judean Desert enable the preservation of artifacts that do not survive in other parts of the country. "This is a dramatic and exciting discovery, touching on a specific moment in time," IAA Director Eli Escusido said in the statement. Researchers said the weapons might have been hidden in the cave by Jewish rebels, who seized them from the Roman army as booty. "The swords were found with the blades inside wooden scabbards, the wooden handles are kept in excellent condition and include additional parts of leather, wood, ropes and metal." The desert is spread across parts of the West Bank and Israel.Įitan Klein, one of the directors of the IAA's Judean Desert Survey Project, told Newsweek: "The assemblage of weapons discovered in this isolated cave is rare and special both in terms of its state of preservation and the important scientific value that can be learned from it. The En Gedi reserve forms part of the Judean Desert, which lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. The cave is small and nestled within a set of isolated and inaccessible cliffs, the antiquities authority said. The cave in which archaeologists found the weapons is located in the En Gedi Nature Reserve, which covers an area just to the west of the Dead Sea. Dafna Gazit / Israel Antiquities Authority
Researchers said the weapons may have been hidden by Jewish rebels after they seized them from the Roman army. Pictured are a shafted pilum weapon (top) and one of the swords (bottom) that were stashed away in a cave in Israel.
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