Israeli archaeologists have unearthed two dozen fragments of Dead Sea parchment in a remote cave in the Judean desert, the first discovery of such Jewish religious texts in more than half a century.
“For the first time in approximately 60 years, archaeological excavations have revealed fragments of a biblical parchment,” said the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in a statement.
More than 20 pieces of parchment were found after teams descended an 80-meter cliff and searched the Cave of Horror, so named because of its precarious position and because 40 skeletons of women, men and children were found there during excavations in the 1960s .
Jewish rebels are believed to have hidden in the gorge south of Jerusalem two millennia ago to escape the Roman advance. The fragments of the Hebrew Bible may have been kept in the cave during the Bar Kochba Uprising, a Jewish uprising against the Roman emperor Hadrian, between 130 and 136 AD.
The IAA said the scrolls found were Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and were dated by 2nd century AD radiocarbon. God’s name is written in Hebrew.
A fragment said: “These are the things you must do: speak the truth to one another, do true and perfect justice at your gates.”
After years of digging in caves and cliffs, the official said he also discovered a skeleton of a six-millennium-old child and a basket he described as the oldest in the world, over 10,000 years old.
The authority had commissioned the operation in 2017, following reports of looting.
IAA director Israel Hasson said the findings were “a wake-up call” for more resources to be devoted to the continuation of the project and said he had researched only half the cliffs so far.
“We must ensure that we recover all data that has not yet been discovered in the caves before thieves do so. Some things are worthless, ”said Hasson.
Sections of the excavation took place in the occupied West Bank, a part of the Palestinian territories, a common practice in Israel that has sparked controversy. The IAA coordinated with the Ministry of Defense, which directs the occupation.
The original Dead Sea manuscripts, a collection of Jewish texts, were also found in desert caves in the West Bank. However, they were discovered by nomadic Bedouin pastors in the 1940s and 1950s.
These texts included sections of the Hebrew Bible 1,000 years older than any previously known copy and revolutionized the understanding of Judaism, from which early Christianity arose.