A cave, known as Cave of Horror, is situated at the centre of an uninhabited desert. This cave has been carrying a tragic history, a part of which is preserved as mummies in the dry atmosphere.

Once upon a time, the Jews had declared a rebellion against the aggression of the Roman Empire. Among those, who chose to do so, had lost their lives in that uprising, and others were left to die in a cave with the entrance blocked from the outside. All the captives died of starvation. The Israeli researchers recovered 40 such skeletons from the cave in 1960. After studying those skeletons, researchers came to know about the tragic consequences of the Jewish rebellion. Since then, the cave has been called the Cave of Horror. According to researchers, the Romans had killed nearly 500,000 Jews, while others left the area to save themselves.

The cave is located in Israel’s Judaean or Judean Desert, where the battle had possibly taken place between 132 and 135 AD. Confirming the news, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has said in a statement that archaeologists recently discovered dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the Judean Desert, south of Jerusalem, believed to be hidden during a Jewish revolt against the Romans during the reign of Emperor Hadrian nearly 1,900 years ago. Archaeologists, who recently discovered the mummy of an ancient child, are of the opinion that more tragic facts could be found inside the cave. The child had left this world around 6,000 years ago! His skeleton was buried between two rocks inside the cave. Archaeologists have claimed that the age of the girl during her death was between six and 12 years. Interestingly, her body was covered with a thick blanket! The use of such a blanket so many years ago has surprised the researchers!

A 10,000-year-old basket, along with some old coins and clothes, has also been found inside the cave. According to archaeologists, the 6,000-year-old mummy and the 10,000-year-old basket prove that human beings used to live in caves at that period of time. As those old coins and clothes are still carrying the memory of the Judeo-Roman War, they believe that the Jewish rebels, imprisoned in the cave, were hoping for a better day! Hence, some of them were carrying coins and new clothes.

Archaeologists further believe that items, recovered from the cave, could give them a detailed idea of human life at that period of time. Lead Archaeologist Oriah Amichai has informed the media that they found some torn pieces of old documents in the cave, and those documents have various information about the Judeo-Roman War. However, the documents were written in completely different scripts. The fragments found there also bear a Greek rendition of the Twelve Minor Prophets, a book in the Hebrew Bible.

“The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind,” said IAA Director Israel Hasson. He added: “The newly discovered scroll fragments are a wake-up call to the state. Resources must be allocated for the completion of this historically important operation. We must ensure that we recover all the data that has not yet been discovered in the caves before the robbers do. Some things are beyond value.”

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das