The Israeli Antiquities Authority has announced an amazing recent discovery by archaeologists—four 1,900-year-old, excellently preserved Roman swords inside a small hidden cave near the shoreline of the Dead Sea.
Eitan Klein, director with the Judean Desert Survey Project, said in a statement released by the IAA that the hiding of the swords in deep cracks in the isolated cave north of Ein Gedi hints that the weapons were taken from Roman soldiers on the battlefield and purposely hidden by Judean rebels.
“Obviously, the rebels did not want to be caught by the Roman authorities carrying these weapons,” Klein said in the statement. “We are just beginning the research on the cave and the weapon cache discovered in it, aiming to try to find out who owned the swords, and where, when and by whom they were manufactured. We will try to pinpoint the historical event that led to the caching of these weapons in the cave and determine whether it was at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-136 A.D.
The Kokhba Revolt was a rebellion by the Roman province of Judea and led by Simon bar Kokhba against the Roman Empire. The revolt erupted amid rising tensions in Judea due to the large military presence in the province.
Leather strips and wooden and metal finds belonging to the weapons were also found. The length of three blades of the swords was 24-26 inches, identifying them as Roman spatha swords.
A Roman javelin was also found in the search. Scientists went to the cave to further investigate an inscription found on a stalactite inside the same cave decades ago.
Israeli archaeologists have made some incredible discoveries in recent years, including a 2,700-year-old toilet in 2021. One scientists believes he has found the biblical city of Sodom in modern-day Jordan; and archaeologists have uncovered some fascinating details on the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after an $11 million cooperative restoration project. {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
