Posted on 08/26/2018 1:20:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
On May 12, 1960, archaeologist Yigael Yadin, appearing at the Jerusalem residence of President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, announced the astounding discovery of a cache of 2,000-year-old letters... signed by the legendary Jewish warrior Shimon Bar Kochba, leader of a devastating second-century revolt against Rome, and had been found high up in a cave overlooking the Nahal Hever canyon, west of the Dead Sea.
The news was received with great excitement, both internationally and in a State of Israel that was still searching for connections to the ancient Jewish presence in the land.
The Bar Kochba letters, which were supplemented by additional finds from nearby the next year, had been found in what came to be called the Cave of Letters. The cave, in a canyon midway between Ein Gedi and Masada, had been explored a few years earlier by Bedouin from the Ta'amireh tribe.
When some documents found by the Ta'amireh in another cave, in nearby Wadi Muraba'at, and relating to Bar Kochba, turned up for sale in the antiquities market, Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni set off with a team to excavate the Cave of Letters, in 1953 and again in 1955...
Then more letters from the same period showed up for sale in early 1960, and the Israeli government resolved to carry out a comprehensive survey of the caves in the immediate area...
Most of the letters Yadin found were written in Bar Kochba's behalf to two of his deputies, Yehonathan Bar Be'ayan and Masabala, and were signed either Bar Koseba or Nasi Israel (prince of Israel). The letters include supply requisition requests and orders for the arrest of specific individuals. The orders are curt and generally call for the recipient to fulfill them "forthwith."
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
I visited Masada in 2014. It’s traditional to walk up to the summit but you need to do this before dawn because it’s brutally hot. The day I went it was so hot they didn’t allow anybody to walk up so I took the cable car. I did walk down, however. A very impressive place, well worth the visit. The weirdest part was drinking a Corona at the visitor’s center. The contrast between ancient and modern was jarring.
No, what recent fake archaeological finds?
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