Posted on 09/07/2023 12:40:30 PM PDT by Red Badger
(Israel Antiquities Authority/YouTube) Israeli researchers made a rare find during a survey of a Dead Sea cave: Four perfectly preserved Roman swords thought to have been used in battle 1,900 years ago.
The swords were likely "booty" hidden by rebels from an opposing faction, who would have been in danger if they were caught carrying the Roman weapons, Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the Judean Desert Survey Project who worked on the dig, said in a statement.
Four Roman-era swords, their wooden and leather hilts and scabbards and steel blades exquisitely preserved after 1,900 years in a desert cave. (Ilan Ben Zion/Associated Press) On Wednesday, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of the cache in a small, almost inaccessible Judean Desert cave near the Dead Sea. In a video detailing their expedition, researchers said they removed the swords from a tight crevice in the cave.
"We are talking about an extremely rare find, said Dr. Eithan Klein, a Judean Desert Survey researcher with the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The like of which has never been found in Israel."
VIDEO AT LINK.................
Scientists said the swords featured wooden and leather hilts, wooden scabbards, and steel blades that were amazingly preserved after spending almost 2,000 years in a remote desert cave.
Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the swords were as sharp "as if they had only just been hidden away today," the BBC reported.
The archaeologists also found a Roman pilum, a heavy javelin.
The swords, the archaeologists said, were weapons typically used by Roman soldiers stationed in Judea.
Researchers discover the ancient Roman-era swords in a small crack of a remote cave near the Dead Sea. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority) "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.
Klein said it is possible the weapons may have been stashed at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132–135 BCE, but added that he and researchers are conducting further work to pinpoint who owned the weapons, where they were forged, and what historical events they could have been used in.
So Gladius you posted This!
Actually,the Roman gladius was shorter than average. Well suited to fighting at close quarters.
One was inscribed Naughteous Maximus.
Not Biggus Dickus?................he’s married, you know..............
Matt Easton's take.
Size matters.
Biggus Dickus? He married Vaginitis. He beat Hemorrhoidcleze in a duel for her.
BCE
I say it stands for Before Christ was Eliminated.
he and researchers are conducting further work to pinpoint who owned the weapons, where they were forged, and what historical events they could have been used in
Did Roman swords have serial numbers?
Sometimes the smiths would mark the blades or the handles.
They can also use metallurgical tests on small slivers to determine their composition, which can tie the back to certain regions of the world as the point of origin.
Pretty cool stuff!
The Bar Kochba Revolt was 132 AD, CE. Not 132 BC, BCE. What does it take to get journalists to do a modicum of research, basic homework?
Excellent!!!
Seems like the long way around when a simple BC will do. Maybe they meant to say “Before Christ (was) Elevated.”
‘Face
;o]
STEEL blades?
“Liberty Safe Co. now to be renamed ‘Dead Sea Caves’...”
LOL! I don’t think that they can recover from this. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that the FBI (or equivalent) let the cat out of the bag regarding Liberty Safes.
Meteoric steel has a very high content of manganese which keeps the steel bright and shiny or sharp over centuries. Most of the US steel of this quality was collected and melted during WWII scrap drives to make Liberty ships for the Germans to sink.
There was common sense sword control, of course.
“Don’t let peasants have swords. They will kill you in your sleep for gang-raping their daughters in front of them.”
That was the law, back then.
What did he do with Incontinentia Buttocks?
“There was common sense sword control, of course.
“Don’t let peasants have swords. They will kill you in your sleep for gang-raping their daughters in front of them.”
That was the law, back then.”
Actually thru history there where attempts to keep weapons like swords and spears from peasants. The movie scenes where you see hoes, flails and scythes used by the peasants are not that inaccurate.
Touching scene in the end of the Samurai Trilogy, starring Toshiro Mifune, showed Miamoto Musashi (or was it Musashi Miamoto?) teaching the peasants how to fight with their farm implements and scavenged swords and spears against the bandits who plagued them. Peasants won.
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