New fragments of scrolls found in Dead Sea caves.

[shunyadragon]

More to it than just the fragments.

Source: Bible scroll fragments among dazzling artifacts found in Dead Sea Cave of Horror

In a stunningly rare discovery, dozens of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments have been excavated from Judean Desert caves during a daring rescue operation. Most of the newly discovered scroll fragments — the first such finds in 60 years — are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands. Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts.

The fragments from the Prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same "Cave of Horror" in Nahal Hever, which is some 80 meters (260 feet) below a cliff top. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release, the cave is "flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff."

Along with the "new" biblical scroll fragments from the Books of the Minor Prophets, the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket -- the oldest complete basket in the world -- and a 6000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep.
...

‘New’ biblical scrolls

Looters and archaeologists alike have combed the Judean Desert since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls some 70 years ago. Aside from two silver scrolls engraved with the biblical Priestly Blessing (from the late 7th to early 6th century BCE) discovered in Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered the earliest known copies of the biblical books and span from circa 400 BCE to 300 CE.

The latest identified finds, two dozen 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the books of Zechariah and Nahum, were discovered in clumps and rolled up in the Cave of Horror. The conservation and study of the fragments was conducted by the IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls Unit under Tanya Bitler, Dr. Oren Ableman and Beatriz Riestra.

The team has so far reconstructed 11 lines of Greek text that was translated from Zechariah 8:16–17, as well as verses from Nahum 1:5–6. They join nine, much more extant fragments that were discovered by Yochanan Aharoni, who first surveyed the Cave of Horrors in 1953.

On the new fragments, as well as in the Greek translation scroll discovered by Aharoni, only the name of God appears in Hebrew. It is written in the Paleo-Hebrew script used during the First Temple period, as well as by some adherents of the Bar Kochba revolt (132–136 CE), including on coinage, and in the Qumran community.

Among the academic fruit already born of the new discovery is the realization that the "new" Greek translation is different from the traditional Masoretic texts.

"These differences can tell us quite a bit regarding the transmission of the biblical text up until the days of the Bar Kochba Revolt, documenting the changes that occurred over time until reaching us in the current version," said the IAA.

Oldest basket in the world

IKEA would do well to take note of the craftsmanship shown on a stunning woven basket dating from some 10,500 years ago -- some 1,000 years prior to the first known pottery vessels -- which was hailed by the IAA as "currently unparalleled worldwide."

The massive 90-100 liter (24-26 gallon)-volume receptacle was discovered by youth volunteers from the Nofei Prat pre-military leadership academy. The exciting discovery took place in one of the Muraba’at Caves, which have previously offered up caches of Roman-era papers and Bar Kochba Revolt remnants, which are found in the Nahal Darga Reserve.

The basket is being studied by the IAA’s Dr. Naama Sukenik and Dr. Ianir Milevski and was dated using carbon-14, by Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto of the Scientific Archaeology Unit of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Due to the arid climate of the region, the huge Pre-Pottery Neolithic period basket, woven in a unique style from plant material, was preserved whole. "As far as we know, this is the oldest basket in the world that has been found completely intact and its importance is therefore immense," said the IAA.

Unfortunately, the basket was discovered empty. "Only future research of a small amount of soil remaining inside it will help us discover what it was used for and what was placed in it," said the IAA.

Mummified child

Some 6,000 years ago, a parent tucked his child in with a blanket for its eternal sleep. The complete skeleton is being researched by the IAA’s Ronit Lupu and Dr. Hila May from the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, who estimate it was 6-12 years old, based on a CT scan.

Fittingly, the cloth-wrapped child was discovered in the Cave of Horror. According to prehistorian Lupu, after moving two flat stones, the team discovered that a shallow pit had been intentionally dug beneath the stones that held the child’s skeleton, which was placed in a fetal position and covered with a cloth around its head and chest.

"It was obvious that whoever buried the child had wrapped him up and pushed the edges of the cloth beneath him, just as a parent covers his child in a blanket. A small bundle of cloth was clutched in the child’s hands," said Lupu. Due to the arid conditions in the cave, the child was naturally mummified. The cloth and other organic materials, including hair and even skin and tendons, were likewise preserved.

Bar Kochba stash and cache

Several of the caves offered random finds left behind by Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar Kochba Revolt, including a cache of coins that were overstruck with Jewish rebels' symbols such as a harp and a date palm, an array of arrowheads and spearheads, pieces of woven fabric, sandals and lice combs, which illustrated the everyday items taken by the fleeing Jews.

Ofer Sion, head of the IAA’s Surveys Department, said, "The high cliffs of 300-400 meters [985-1,300 feet] in a single drop with these enigmatic ravines that no one reaches were the ultimate haven. And in one period in human history, families fled to the caves in the Judean Desert, and we really don’t know anything else."

Archaeologist Oriah Amichai explained that the families clearly planned what they would be taking from home, "when one day, when the war will be finished, what they will be able to use to build a new life. We come here and reconstruct the lives of those who didn’t survive in the end," she said.

The ongoing operation intends to continue searching for vestiges of the past that connect with all Israeli citizens, regardless of creed. As emphasized by Avi Cohen, the CEO of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, "These finds are not just important to our own cultural heritage, but to that of the entire world."



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Apparently it was named the Cave of Horror due to something like 40 skeletons being uncovered there.

The basket is in remarkably well preserved condition

32.the-basket-in-situ3.-Photo-Yoli-Schwartz-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-640x400.jpeg31.Chaim-Cohen-and-Naama-Sukenik-of-the-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-holding-the-ancient-basket.-photo-Yaniv-Berman-640x400.jpg

34.Consevation-of-the-Basket.-Photo-Yaniv-Berman-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-640x400.jpg

Thank you for providing these details!

[rogue06]

More to it than just the fragments.

Source: Bible scroll fragments among dazzling artifacts found in Dead Sea Cave of Horror

In a stunningly rare discovery, dozens of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments have been excavated from Judean Desert caves during a daring rescue operation. Most of the newly discovered scroll fragments — the first such finds in 60 years — are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands. Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts.

The fragments from the Prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same "Cave of Horror" in Nahal Hever, which is some 80 meters (260 feet) below a cliff top. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release, the cave is "flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff."

Along with the "new" biblical scroll fragments from the Books of the Minor Prophets, the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket -- the oldest complete basket in the world -- and a 6000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep.
...

‘New’ biblical scrolls

Looters and archaeologists alike have combed the Judean Desert since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls some 70 years ago. Aside from two silver scrolls engraved with the biblical Priestly Blessing (from the late 7th to early 6th century BCE) discovered in Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered the earliest known copies of the biblical books and span from circa 400 BCE to 300 CE.

The latest identified finds, two dozen 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the books of Zechariah and Nahum, were discovered in clumps and rolled up in the Cave of Horror. The conservation and study of the fragments was conducted by the IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls Unit under Tanya Bitler, Dr. Oren Ableman and Beatriz Riestra.

The team has so far reconstructed 11 lines of Greek text that was translated from Zechariah 8:16–17, as well as verses from Nahum 1:5–6. They join nine, much more extant fragments that were discovered by Yochanan Aharoni, who first surveyed the Cave of Horrors in 1953.

On the new fragments, as well as in the Greek translation scroll discovered by Aharoni, only the name of God appears in Hebrew. It is written in the Paleo-Hebrew script used during the First Temple period, as well as by some adherents of the Bar Kochba revolt (132–136 CE), including on coinage, and in the Qumran community.

Among the academic fruit already born of the new discovery is the realization that the "new" Greek translation is different from the traditional Masoretic texts.

"These differences can tell us quite a bit regarding the transmission of the biblical text up until the days of the Bar Kochba Revolt, documenting the changes that occurred over time until reaching us in the current version," said the IAA.

Oldest basket in the world

IKEA would do well to take note of the craftsmanship shown on a stunning woven basket dating from some 10,500 years ago -- some 1,000 years prior to the first known pottery vessels -- which was hailed by the IAA as "currently unparalleled worldwide."

The massive 90-100 liter (24-26 gallon)-volume receptacle was discovered by youth volunteers from the Nofei Prat pre-military leadership academy. The exciting discovery took place in one of the Muraba’at Caves, which have previously offered up caches of Roman-era papers and Bar Kochba Revolt remnants, which are found in the Nahal Darga Reserve.

The basket is being studied by the IAA’s Dr. Naama Sukenik and Dr. Ianir Milevski and was dated using carbon-14, by Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto of the Scientific Archaeology Unit of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Due to the arid climate of the region, the huge Pre-Pottery Neolithic period basket, woven in a unique style from plant material, was preserved whole. "As far as we know, this is the oldest basket in the world that has been found completely intact and its importance is therefore immense," said the IAA.

Unfortunately, the basket was discovered empty. "Only future research of a small amount of soil remaining inside it will help us discover what it was used for and what was placed in it," said the IAA.

Mummified child

Some 6,000 years ago, a parent tucked his child in with a blanket for its eternal sleep. The complete skeleton is being researched by the IAA’s Ronit Lupu and Dr. Hila May from the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, who estimate it was 6-12 years old, based on a CT scan.

Fittingly, the cloth-wrapped child was discovered in the Cave of Horror. According to prehistorian Lupu, after moving two flat stones, the team discovered that a shallow pit had been intentionally dug beneath the stones that held the child’s skeleton, which was placed in a fetal position and covered with a cloth around its head and chest.

"It was obvious that whoever buried the child had wrapped him up and pushed the edges of the cloth beneath him, just as a parent covers his child in a blanket. A small bundle of cloth was clutched in the child’s hands," said Lupu. Due to the arid conditions in the cave, the child was naturally mummified. The cloth and other organic materials, including hair and even skin and tendons, were likewise preserved.

Bar Kochba stash and cache

Several of the caves offered random finds left behind by Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar Kochba Revolt, including a cache of coins that were overstruck with Jewish rebels' symbols such as a harp and a date palm, an array of arrowheads and spearheads, pieces of woven fabric, sandals and lice combs, which illustrated the everyday items taken by the fleeing Jews.

Ofer Sion, head of the IAA’s Surveys Department, said, "The high cliffs of 300-400 meters [985-1,300 feet] in a single drop with these enigmatic ravines that no one reaches were the ultimate haven. And in one period in human history, families fled to the caves in the Judean Desert, and we really don’t know anything else."

Archaeologist Oriah Amichai explained that the families clearly planned what they would be taking from home, "when one day, when the war will be finished, what they will be able to use to build a new life. We come here and reconstruct the lives of those who didn’t survive in the end," she said.

The ongoing operation intends to continue searching for vestiges of the past that connect with all Israeli citizens, regardless of creed. As emphasized by Avi Cohen, the CEO of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, "These finds are not just important to our own cultural heritage, but to that of the entire world."



Source

© Copyright Original Source

Apparently it was named the Cave of Horror due to something like 40 skeletons being uncovered there.

The basket is in remarkably well preserved condition

32.the-basket-in-situ3.-Photo-Yoli-Schwartz-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-640x400.jpeg31.Chaim-Cohen-and-Naama-Sukenik-of-the-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-holding-the-ancient-basket.-photo-Yaniv-Berman-640x400.jpg

34.Consevation-of-the-Basket.-Photo-Yaniv-Berman-Israel-Antiquities-Authority-640x400.jpg

[Cow Poke]

The Dead Pond and Puddle?

Pretty much - and the Jordan river was pretty much a trickle -- I could walk across it waste deep near the place where John Baptized.

[rogue06]

I think you'd be amazed how much the Dead Sea has shrunk - it's pretty much two smaller Dead Seas now.

The Dead Pond and Puddle?

[Cow Poke]

I toured the Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, and the surrounding area in 2000 on bicycle. Things were weird then.

I think you'd be amazed how much the Dead Sea has shrunk - it's pretty much two smaller Dead Seas now.

[shunyadragon]

I was within 2 miles of there the last time I was in Israel, and truly regret not taking more time to just 'take it in'.

Thanks, Shuny.

I toured the Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, and the surrounding area in 2000 on bicycle. Things were weird then.

[Cow Poke]

I was within 2 miles of there the last time I was in Israel, and truly regret not taking more time to just 'take it in'.

Thanks, Shuny.

[shunyadragon]

An intensive search of the caves around the Dead Sea has revealed new remnants of books of the Bible. Still not completely revealed, but the finds are amazing

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/israeli-experts-announce-discovery-of-new-dead-sea-scrolls

Israeli experts discover new Dead Sea Scrolls

Archaeologists also present 6,000 year-old skeleton of a child and the oldest complete basket in the world

The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves near the Dead Sea, in Qumran, in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D. They include the earliest known copies of biblical texts and documents outlining the beliefs of a little understood Jewish sect.

The newly found fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been radiocarbon-dated to the second century A.D., according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

© Copyright Original Source

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/israel...ad-sea-scrolls