Israeli researchers find 4 Roman swords in Dead Sea cave after 1,900 years.

OAN’s James Meyers
11:30 AM – Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Researchers in Israel have discovered “four 1,900-year-old, excellently preserved Roman swords” in ​a cave overlooking the Dead Sea, the country’s antiquities authority announced on Wednesday.

Three of the swords, whose iron blades are 60-65cm long, were contained in wooden scabbards.

Archaeologists believe that Judean rebels ⁤had buried the swords and the head of a javelin, known as a pilum, after taking them from the Roman army.

“The⁢ hiding of the swords and the pilum in deep cracks in the isolated cave north of‍ Ein 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,” Eitan Klein, a director with the Judean Desert Survey Project, said in a statement released by ⁢the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

“Obviously,⁢ the rebels⁤ did⁣ not want to be ​caught by the Roman authorities carrying ​these weapons. 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,” he added. “We ⁣will try⁣ to pinpoint the historical event that led to caching of these weapons in the cave and determine whether it was at the⁢ time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-135 CE.”

The swords were classified based on⁤ their typology but have not yet undergone radiocarbon dating.

The discovery was part of the antiquities authority’s Judean Desert Survey. Their⁢ main objective is to document and dig out caves⁢ near the Dead Sea in order⁣ to​ find scrolls before looters have a chance to ransack them.

“The Judean Desert Cave Survey Team… were‍ astonished to find the four Roman ‍Swords ⁤in an almost inaccessible crevice on the upper level of the cave. The swords were exceptionally well preserved, and three were found with the ⁣iron blade inside the wooden scabbards,” it added.

However, Guy Stiebel, a ​Tel Aviv University archaeologist specializing in Roman military ‍history, stated that since the swords were found on the eastern⁤ edge of the Roman Empire, that they were most⁣ likely crafted in ‌a European province and brought to the province of Judea by soldiers.

“They also reflect a much grander narrative of the entire Roman Empire and the fact that from a small cave in a very remote place on the edge of ‍the empire, we ⁣can actually shed light about those⁢ mechanisms is⁢ the greatest​ joy that ⁢the scientist can have,” Stiebel concluded.

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