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Over the past decade, scientists and designers have increasingly recognized that the climate challenge is not only how we build, but what we build with. The construction industry is among the world’s largest polluters, and cement production alone accounts for roughly 8 percent of global carbon emissions.

In response, researchers worldwide are developing alternative building materials with lower environmental footprints—often based on recycled or locally abundant resources. One such innovation is now emerging from Israel: a building brick made largely from recycled Dead Sea salt.

Related: she makes pretty things out of Dead Sea crystals

Turning waste into raw material

Construction places an enormous burden on natural resources. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the sector consumes around 36 percent of global energy, contributes nearly 40 percent of CO₂ emissions, and is responsible for significant air and ecosystem pollution.

Israel, meanwhile, has limited natural construction resources. One of its most abundant materials is found at the Dead Sea, one of the world’s largest sources of industrial salt and potash. Each year, millions of tons of excess salt accumulate in evaporation ponds as a byproduct of mineral extraction. The buildup raises the lakebed, alters shorelines, and presents a long-term environmental challenge.

For decades, this surplus salt was treated as waste.

Since 2015, Danny Mendler, a professor in the Chemistry Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been working to change that perception. His research treats Dead Sea salt not as a nuisance to be removed, but as a raw material that can be refined and reused.

Mendler developed a process that compresses salt with a small percentage of additional materials—around five percent—under high pressure to create solid bricks with strength approaching that of conventional concrete.

“If we can replace even a fraction of cement with salt, the environmental impact would be substantial,” Mendler explains. “Reducing cement use directly reduces carbon emissions.”

From chemistry lab to architectural design

In 2025, the research moved beyond the laboratory through a collaboration with architecture students at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. As part of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning’s Studio 1:1 program, led by Michal Bleicher and Dan Price, students translated the material into a workable building system.

The group examined the physical qualities of salt—its mass, translucency, and structural behavior—and designed a prototype structure they called the Mediterranean Igloo. Through this process, they defined a standardized brick size of 8 × 8 × 24 centimeters, a 1:3 ratio that allows modular flexibility in construction.

The outcome was a uniform, scalable brick made primarily from Dead Sea salt—adaptable in shape, thickness, and surface texture, and compatible with contemporary building needs. Compared with conventional materials, the salt bricks offer a lower-pollution alternative while repurposing an existing environmental burden.

International recognition

The project was presented in October at Change: The Shape of Transformation, part of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Selected from 55 academic institutions worldwide, the Technion team was among just ten invited to exhibit.

The students transported physical salt bricks to Venice, drawing significant interest from architects and researchers. According to Bleicher, the response underscored growing global attention to material innovation in architecture.

“This is a material that is both natural and engineered,” she says. “Our next goal is to construct a full-scale structure in Israel using these bricks. We believe this approach can turn a serious environmental problem into a practical solution.”

What stands in the way

Despite its promise, widespread adoption is not imminent. The construction industry is notoriously conservative, and introducing new materials requires years of testing, certification, and regulatory approval.

“Every new building material must pass extensive strength, durability, and safety standards,” Bleicher notes. “That takes time, funding, and supportive regulation—which is often lacking.”

Still, the idea that decades of accumulated salt waste could become part of a cleaner construction future reflects a broader shift in environmental thinking: viewing crisis not only as a risk, but as a catalyst for innovation.

This article was prepared by Zavit, the news agency of the Israeli Society for Ecology and Environmental Sciences. It is republished with permission.

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On August 5th, 2025, environmental experts from Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories descended upon the University of Leeds for a three-day event centered around the Dead Sea and its irreversible decline. The gathering highlighted the urgency and attention that the region directs towards the Dead Sea.

Once spanning over 400 square miles, the Dead Sea now covers approximately 230 square miles. Currently, the Dead Sea’s water is dropping 3.3 feet per year due to the diversion of the Jordan River and the overextraction of the sea’s minerals. 

See Related Article: Environmentalist: “Explore Alternatives to Red-Dead Canal Project”

The area surrounding the sea has changed drastically in the past half-century. Landscapes are riddled with sinkholes, human activity, and leftover mineral deposits. 

The Dead Sea’s rapid decline is not only an aesthetic decline but also one that affects various aspects of the world. First, it affects ecosystems and biodiversity. All parts of the natural world are connected, and something as prominent as the Dead Sea being destroyed will affect life around it. Also, local communities and infrastructure must be altered and changed due to the new sea levels and sinkholes caused by the decline. The region surrounding the sea is also a tourism hotspot, and if the Dead Sea becomes an undesirable location, the people will stop coming. Finally, the Dead Sea and its resources are not only Israel’s. Jordan and the Palestinian territories also utilize the Dead Sea. A destroyed Dead Sea would increase political tensions due to each country being negatively impacted. 

See Related Article: How EcoPeace Uses Environmental Education to Bridge Borders in the Jordan Valley

The summit, held at Leeds, brings together various actors. Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians represent the regional interest, and participants from the UK and other Western countries participated to assist. The talks that they had were aimed at discussing improving and creating coordinated and interconnected action. 

There have been efforts to save the Dead Sea. The Jordan River is the sea’s water source. However, now only 10% of the original water flow reaches the basin. A key effort in reviving the Dead Sea is to stop the diversion of the river’s water and allow it to flow to the Dead Sea. Additionally, there are regulations on mineral extraction and building. At the Leeds conference, many new ideas were created and shared. Water sharing frameworks, combined with river restoration efforts, re-zoning, desalination brine water, and international funding, provide help. These efforts and efforts of the future also provide an avenue for increased regional stability. Israel and Jordan both use the sea for its resources and the tourism aspect. However, there is minimal cooperation between the countries, leading to an increased decline of the sea. If the countries strengthen, add new efforts, and rely on each other more than it would cause there to be more needed cooperation. 

The Dead Sea’s rapid collapse is a tragedy not only for Israel but for the region as a whole. It also tests whether environmental necessity can lead to regional stability. The Leed summit is one of the many conversations currently being had to try to save the sea. Conversations are one thing; action is another, and action is needed to save the Dead Sea. 

The post Sinkholes and Shrinking Shores: The Race to Rescue the Dead Sea appeared first on Green Prophet.

“She sells seashells by the seashore,” is the first thing I want to say when I think of Michal Rothschild. I met her 15 years ago as a painter living and working in the mountains of Jerusalem. I recently met her again and she showed me her latest art project –– an attempt to create crystal wombs so she can grow crystals like the large crystal nuggets she has found buried in mud at the Dead Sea. She calls her wearable art Dead Sea Capsules.

Rothschild started selling bracelets and necklaces featuring Dead Sea diamond crystals at museum shops in Israel –– and also through her website, and the Israel Museum asked if it’s allowed for her to harvest them from the Dead Sea. She wondered if harvesting crystals was sustainable. It put her on an artistic quest.

In looking for the answer, she developed a way with the Israel Geological Survey as a partner, to farm Dead Sea crystals in mini crystal incubators at the Dead Sea: “My quest for getting the answer (if harvesting the salt crystals is sustainable) led me to my on-going artistic research of growing Dead Sea diamonds myself,” she told Green Prophet.

She creates a seed of a crystal inside the “womb” and over time the salty covered chamber sitting in the Dead Sea reveals a mini crystal in the center. You can see the chambers hanging in her studio outside Jerusalem. And below there are photos of the process she invented taking place at the Dead Sea.

Inside each bulb of hanging crystal is a treasure, an embryo of a crystal that is also wearable art: bracelets and necklaces that transmit Dead Sea ions to the body. “It’s kind of a life project and more of an artistic one than a scientific project,” she says.

There is no other salt lake on the planet that has the complete array of ions than what’s found in the Dead Sea, says Rothschild. When you wear her art a tiny part of the jewelry melts into your body. You can wear it and sweat, she notes, and some of the healing ions will be absorbed into your skin.

And wearers take note: you can’t wear this living art in the shower or in the rain. This unique crystal jewelry is an art form in itself carrying, what Rothschild says is an ecological message: “If you don’t take care of it it will disappear like the Dead Sea itself.

“It will last as long as you don’t get it wet. It needs your awareness.”

In ancient times, the Dead Sea was a favorite of King Herod and it was Queen Cleopatra’s beauty secret. People from all over the world, especially people with asthma and skin diseases, come to the Dead Sea for its curative salt, and air. It being so low, means that there is more ozone filtering out UV radiation so it’s hard to get a sunburn making it a safer way for people to soak up the sun.

The salt, minerals and the mud baths are not the only amazing thing about the Dead Sea. Its crystals contain magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc, bromide, sulfur and strontium. Rothschild understood that when you wear her crystal art, the salt crystal transmits its ions right to your body.

And while it will melt away in the shower or in the rain, this unique crystal jewelry is an art form in itself. It will last as long as you don’t get it wet.

“The crystal farming process from the cruise with the Israel Geological Survey to their research float in the middle of the Dead Sea where I deepen the sack 15m under sea level and left it hanging there for about 2 months.”

Related: Spencer Tunick and the Dead Sea

Rothschild also uses her art to talk about the fact that the Dead Sea is being over-exploited and is dying. Lack of water, and intense industrial sequestration of minerals are the two main reasons why the Dead Sea is shrinking, causing spurious sink holes to pop up overnight.

Being a crystal whisperer is only one of her many talents. Rothschild is a gardener, painter, video art creator and installation artist, and soon to be beekeeper who studied art in New York. Her work can be found on her website, and she is taking custom orders on Dead Sea crystal necklaces (Dead Sea Diamonds) so you can wear a little bit of the Dead Sea mystery year long (they feel a bit witchy) –– just don’t wear them in the rain.

::Michal Rothschild

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Earthquake energy can travel vast distances, shaking the ground far from its origin. This energy moves even more swiftly along tectonic plate boundaries and across their intersections. When powerful earthquakes struck along the East Anatolian Fault in February 2023, between Syria and Turkey, their impact was expected to extend along the Dead Sea Fault, from the Red Sea to Turkey, and affect its surrounding regions. These significant faults are well-known as intersecting plate boundaries.

Nonetheless, the anticipated strong earthquakes did not occur along the Dead Sea Fault.

While this may seem like an anomaly, researchers from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Haifa and the Geological Survey of Israel claim that the initial perception was wrong, claiming that the plate boundaries are not connected.

“Our study shows that the strong earthquakes of the East Anatolian Fault were not channeled along the Dead Sea Fault since they are not tectonically connected, as most scientists assume. The seismic energy produced by the source is absorbed through small aftershocks in the intermediate regions – i.e., in Syria and Lebanon, but not preferably channeled along the Dead Sea Fault ” explained Prof. Uri Schattner of the University of Haifa, one of the authors of the study.

In February 2023, some of the strongest earthquakes in the history of the Middle East occurred in southeast Turkey, killing tens of thousands of people. The current study, published recently in the journal Tectonophysics, was conducted jointly with Dr. Amit Segev and Dr. Nadav Wetzler from the Geological Survey of Israel. The researchers sought to examine why the major earthquakes in Turkey did not cause significant aftershocks along the Dead Sea Fault and the countries along its 1000+ km trace.

They gathered the earthquake data from the Israeli and Turkish seismic monitoring networks, collected between 2000-2022 from Eilat to Turkey and in all the neighboring countries, and analyzed all their seismological components. The researchers also reviewed all previous geological, geophysical, volcanic and tectonic studies to better understand the Dead Sea fault development in the past millions of years. “We wanted to go back to square one and re-examine if these two major fault systems are actually connected,” explained Dr. Segev.

The findings confirm the northward development of the Dead Sea Fault, gradually separating between the Sinai and the Arabian plate over millions of years. However, they show an interesting trend. The modern earthquakes are concentrated along the southern portion of the fault, from the Red Sea to the Sea of Galilee, where the cumulative displacement is 105 km between Sinai and Arabia (the east side is moving north relative to the western side). From Lebanon northwards, earthquakes occur across a much wider area, including the Syrian Palmyra and Aleppo regions. In these areas, displacement along the Dead Sea Fault diminishes significantly—around 16-4 km in northwestern Syria—and is absent at its supposed junction with the East Anatolian Fault.

“This finding enhances our understanding of how seismic energy dissipates in earthquake-prone areas. It may help improve our preparedness for seismic events by showing that the Dead Sea Fault is not directly connected to the East Anatolian Fault. This finding is critical in managing seismic risk in our region and raises new questions concerning the type of earthquakes that may occur in northern Israel,” noted Dr. Wetzler from the Seismological Division of the Geological Survey of Israel.

The researchers add that the meeting area between the Dead Sea and East Anatolian Faults may be considered a natural laboratory for studying the processes in which tectonic junctions are formed between plate boundaries. “A plate boundary such as the Dead Sea Fault can be found in many other places, such as the San Andreas Fault in California. They are part of the global tectonic network of plate boundaries. Our study shows how a plate boundary junction is created,” Dr. Segev explained.

“Our findings enhance our understanding of crustal structures across the Middle East,” concluded the researchers. “This knowledge provides better tools for assessing earthquake distribution and propagation, marking a significant step towards improving regional seismic risk and hazard assessment”.

The post Why Turkey earthquakes don’t hit Israel? It’s the Dead Sea Fault appeared first on Green Prophet.

In an oil wealthy state like Saudi Arabia luxury has no limits. And the latest is LEED certified.

A new Red Sea resort in Saudi Arabia called Shebara Island is already taking pre-bookings for its glamorous pod hotels, a cool SAR 9,000 a night, which equals about $2,400 USD. No big deal if you’ve berthed your mega-yacht at its shores.

Powered by the sun, the resort features 73 pods that rival the best of luxury from the Maldives seeing a downturn in tourism for its racist policies on religious freedom.

Saudi Arabia is hoping to become booming hotspot for business and tourism and has started creating 15-minute cities like Neom.

Shebaya, the latest from dozens of new projects announced, is LEED-Platinum property which is built to “minimise its environmental and literal environmental footprint by cantilevering the accommodation spaces above the coral reefs with only a few square meters of ground impact at the base of the supporting column.

“The result is an aerial accommodation ‘pod’ that almost seems to defy gravity and suspends the guest directly above and within the beauty of an untouched marine eco-system; an observation platform for guests to witness the fish, birds and turtles that thrive in the area,” says a handout.

The entire project is powered by a centralized solar farm and fresh water is supplied from a solar powered desalination plant. Recycling of waste material takes place on the island minimizing the need to bring or remove materials from the site.

The design language of the resort compliments the uniqueness of the site. The approach to the façade design has been to minimize visual impact, employing a highly reflective stainless-steel skin polished to a mirror finish. These reflective orbs float, almost imperceptible, reflecting the colors and surface patterns of the ocean, the intense colors of the sky as they change throughout the day.

This approach serves to lessen the visual impact of the architecture on the surrounding environment while also greatly improv the building’s energy performance with a near 100% reflection of the solar gain at the mirror surface. These heavily insulated spaces can be effectively cooled with minimal energy losses.

The interior space of the project provides spacious room for the guests, with detailing, and finishes inspired by the interiors of luxury yachts. The room offers panoramic views to the sea with sliding doors that open to a deck, a seating area and an infinity pool with uninterrupted views of the sea and horizon beyond.

The project is designed by the UAE based K

Other Red Sea attractions in the region include our favorite place: low-key eco tourism in Sinai. There is also a great list of eco-tourism sites in the Holy Land. A typical trip in the future might look like this:

1. A cruise down the Nile. The pyramids. A visit to Siwa Oasis in Egypt.
2. Head over to St. Catherines Monastery, hike God’s Mountain, and spend a few nights diving in Sinai.
3. Taxi over to Eilat and head to Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea.
4. Head across the Allenby Bridge to Jordan and check out Madaba, then down to Petra.
5. From Petra head to Saudi Arabia to one of its dozens of new Red Sea attractions.

The post Reserve a Red Sea pod hotel at Shebara Island for $2,400 a night appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s down in the history books of legends. How could the Jews hold onto the fortress of Masada for years without food and water? According to the common myth, the Romans laid siege to the Dead Sea fortress of Masada for three long years. A new survey using advanced technologies indicates that the siege was probably a much quicker affair: more like weeks.

Researchers in Archaeology at Tel Aviv University used a range of modern technologies, including drones, remote sensing, and 3D digital modeling, to generate the first objective, quantified analysis of the Roman siege system at Masada.

Findings indicate that contrary to the widespread myth, the Roman army’s siege of Masada in 73 CE lasted no more than a few weeks.

The study was conducted by Guy Stiebel, together with Hai Ashkenazi to attempt a new understanding of what really happened at Masada. The paper was published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

Why the siege against the Jews started?

The First Jewish Revolt against the Romans started in 66 CE after years of political instability. One of the first acts in this war was the seizure of Masada from its Roman garrison by a group of Jewish rebels. At the beginning of the rebellion, the Jewish forces managed to defeat an army led by Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria.

Later, after suffering heavy losses in the field, and following the arrival in 67 CE of a second expedition led by Vespasian and his son Titus, the local militias usually avoided meeting the Roman forces in the field and took shelter in fortified towns and forts, most of which had been built during previous periods.

This led to a war characterized mainly by Roman siege warfare. Several years of careful Roman advance culminated in the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and though the Romans faced bitter resistance from the city’s defenders, the city was conquered and destroyed within that same year.

Read related: ancient date from Masada sprouts after 2000 years

About three years later, the Romans followed the remaining rebels to their last stronghold – Masada. The amount of effort invested by the Romans in chasing these last few hundred rebels to their final refuge in the middle of the desert may seem surprising.

Some researchers argue that it was done in order to completely assert Roman rule over the country, to send a message to other potential rebels, and to “restore the impression of Roman might”; others have recently claimed that the Romans’ aim was to protect the valuable Balsam (opobalsamum) perfume production center at the nearby oasis of Ein Gedi.

The researchers used drones carrying remote sensors that provided precise, high-resolution measurements of the height, width, and length of all features of the siege system. This data was used to build an accurate 3D digital model, enabling exact calculation of the structures’ volume and how long it took to build them.

Researcher Stiebel says: “We use drones, remote sensing, and aerial photography to collect accurate high-resolution data from Masada and its environs, with special emphasis on three aspects: the water systems, the trails leading to and from the palatial fortress, and the Roman siege system.

“The collected information is used to build 3D digital models that provide us with a clear and precise image of the relevant terrains. In the current study we focused on the siege system, which, thanks to the remote location and desert climate, is the best-preserved Roman siege system in the world.”

Dr. Stiebel adds: “For many years, the prevailing theory that became a modern myth asserted that the Roman siege of Masada was a grueling three-year affair. In recent decades researchers have begun to challenge this notion, for various reasons. In this first-of-its kind study we examined the issue with modern technologies enabling precise objective measurements.”

Reliable estimates are available of the quantity of earth and stones a Roman soldier was able to move in one day, the researchers explain. Ashkenazi says: “We also know that approximately 6,000-8,000 soldiers participated in the siege of Masada. Thus, we were able to objectively calculate how long it took them to build the entire siege system – eight camps and a stone wall surrounding most of the site.

“We found that construction took merely about two weeks. Based on the ancient historical testimony it is clear that once the assault ramp was completed, the Romans launched a brutal attack, ultimately capturing the fortress within a few weeks at the most.

“This leads us to the conclusion that the entire siege of Masada lasted no more than several weeks.”

Says Stiebel: “The narrative of Masada, the Great Jewish Revolt, the siege, and the tragic end as related by Flavius Josephus, have all become part of Israeli DNA and the Zionist ethos, and are well known around the world. The duration of the siege is a major element in this narrative, suggesting that the glorious Roman army found it very difficult to take the fortress and crush its defenders.

“For many years it was assumed that the siege took three long years, but in recent decades researchers have begun to challenge this unfounded belief. In our first-of-its-kind study we used objective measurements and advanced technologies to clarify this issue with the first data-driven scientific answer.

“Based on our findings we argue that the Roman siege of Masada took a few weeks at the most. As empires throughout history have done, the Romans came, saw, and conquered, quickly and brutally quelling the uprising in this remote location.

“Our conclusion, however, detracts nothing from the importance of this historical event, and many baffling questions remain to be investigated.

“For example: Why did the Romans put so much effort into seizing this remote and seemingly unimportant fortress?  To answer this and many other intriguing questions we have initiated a vast, innovative project in and around Masada … to ultimately shed new light on the old enigma: What really happened at Masada?”

The post The Masada siege lasted weeks, not the legendary years say archeologists appeared first on Green Prophet.

Manufacturers are always in the market for new solutions that are environmentally conscious and have minimal impact on the environment. Ideally, these materials should also be potent and effective solutions to many problems. Dead Sea magnesium chloride has already been proving its worth and increasing its impact many times over. There are numerous different ways that companies are using Dead Sea magnesium chloride. This presents a unique opportunity for manufacturers looking to make a splash in their industry and move towards a better ecological footprint.

What is Dead Sea Magnesium Chloride?

Dead Sea magnesium chloride is a compound that stands out in the pack due to how soluble it is as well as its absorption rate, plus it is easy to get. This makes it something that a bucketload of industries are going after from natural cosmetic companies to agriculture! As the name hints, it comes from the Dead Sea, which is extremely salty, thus making it a pretty bountiful resource for the brine that ends up becoming magnesium chloride.

Changing the Industry for the Better

Dead Sea magnesium chloride gives manufacturers the great ability to go green and swap out some of their less-than-friendly methods for this salty but green one instead. Here are some industries that can definitely benefit from going for Dead Sea Magnesium Chloride.

• Agriculture: Including dead sea magnesium chloride in fertilizers improves soil health, enriches crop-zapping plants with additional nutrients, and promotes eco-friendly farming. Plants that are given a boost of the mineral are better equipped to ward off pesky pests and diseases, which means less synthetic pesticides from the big bad chemical companies.
• Cosmetics: The beauty industry is no stranger to the oh-so magical powers of Dead Sea magnesium chloride. Across the world, formulators are tuning in to this miracle ingredient to create calm, cool, and collected skin care solutions. Ditching synthetic add-ins in favor of natural alternatives is great for your customer’s skin and your brand reputation.
• Water Treatment: Dead Sea magnesium chloride, as part of a water treatment process, can be a healthy alternative to cruel chemical treatments. This can help neutralize and or ‘soften’ hard water without endangering any humans! Making the planet happy AND salty!
• De-Icing Agent: Want a de-icer sans those pesky chemicals that might affect your pets or you? Then go for Dead Sea magnesium chloride!
• Bath Products: Hailing back to its health and wellness roots, magnesium chloride is a wonder ingredient that makes bath salts and other spa treatments that much more fab. The ingredient helps your muscles to relax and soak away the stress of life––a sure sign of a scienced-up holistic hero.

Sourcing Dead Sea Magnesium Chloride from ICL Industrial Products

If you want to get your hands on Dead Sea Magnesium chloride, then ICL Industrial Products is the place you want to go! ICL’s advanced extraction technique allows them to take already stellar magnesium chloride (as extracted from the Dead Sea) and turn a great ingredient into an even better one. Also, this is the sort of company that puts people and the planet first.

Dead Sea Magnesium For The Future

All in all, Dead Sea magnesium chloride is a smart, new ingredient to consider for long-term sustainability. From elevating your product line to lowering your overall impact, Dead Sea magnesium chloride can help you grow consumer trust by aligning yourself with a growing community of industry leaders who are turning intentions into action. Use Dead Sea magnesium chloride and experience the positive spillover effect!

The post Discovering the Magic of Dead Sea Magnesium Chloride appeared first on Green Prophet.

AI deciphers the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.

Student researchers have used machine learning to read text hidden inside charred, unopenable scrolls from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. The charred scroll was buried 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

The newly revealed passages, using software and scanning called virtual unwrapping, discuss sources of pleasure including music, the colour purple and the taste of capers. The team trained an algorithm on tiny differences in texture where the ink had been, based on three-dimensional computed tomography scans of the scrolls.

The scroll is one of hundreds of intact papyri excavated in the eighteenth century from a luxury Roman villa in Herculaneum, Italy. These lumps of carbonized ash — known as the Herculaneum scrolls — are the only library that survives from the ancient world, but are too fragile to open.

The winning entry, announced on 5 February, reveals hundreds of words across more than 15 columns of text, corresponding to around 5% of an entire scroll. “The contest has cleared the air on all the people saying will this even work,” says Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and co-founder of the prize. “Nobody doubts that anymore.”

Luke Farritor, an undergraduate studying computer science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, used the crackle to train a machine-learning algorithm, revealing the word porphyras, ‘purple’, which won him the prize for unveiling the first letters in late October. An Egyptian PhD student in Berlin, Youssef Nader, who followed with even clearer images of the text, came second.

The content of most of the previously opened Herculaneum scrolls relates to the Epicurean school of philosophy, and seems to have formed the working library of a follower of the Athenian philosopher Epicurus, who lived from 341 to 270 BC, named Philodemus.

The new text revealed in the contest doesn’t name the author but, from a rough first read, researchers predict it is by Philodemus. As well as pleasurable tastes and sights, the scroll includes a figure called Xenophantus, possibly a flute-player of that name mentioned by the ancient authors Seneca and Plutarch, whose evocative playing apparently caused Alexander the Great to reach for his weapons.

Researcher Seales has been trying to read these concealed texts for nearly 20 years. His team developed software to “virtually unwrap” the surfaces of rolled-up papyri using three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) images. In 2019, he carried two of the scrolls from the Institut de France in Paris to the Diamond Light Source particle accelerator near Oxford to make high-resolution scans.

Seales team read Dead Sea scrolls from the Ein Gedi region in Israel. The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, Israel.

The post Essay on pleasure revealed in ancient scroll appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s as though they were forged by Romans just a few years ago. The blades perfectly preserved by the dry, hot conditions, four 1,900-year-old swords preserved in their wooden and leather scabbards were found in the cache located in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve in the Dead Sea area of Israel. This is dramatic evidence of a specific moment in history, say the researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ariel University involved in the study.

An article published today in the book New Studies in the Archaeology of the Judean Desert: Collected Papers, suggests that the weapons were war booty, and were hidden in the cave by the Judean rebels. The book summarizes six years of archaeological surveys and excavations carried out in the Judean Desert caves.

A sensational find: the excellently preserved Roman swords and a shafted weapon were discovered in a crevice in a cave in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. It appears that the weapons were hidden by the Judean rebels, after they were seized from the Roman army as booty. “Finding a single sword is rare—so four? It’s a dream! We rubbed our eyes to believe it,” say the researchers.

The weapons were discovered in a small hidden cave located in an area of isolated and inaccessible cliffs north of ‘En Gedi, in the Judean Desert Nature Reserve, under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Authority. Fifty years ago, a stalactite with a fragmentary ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script characteristic of the First Temple period, was found.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the general area of the Dead Sea as well.

Recently, Dr. Asaf Gayer of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Ariel University, geologist Boaz Langford of the Institute of Earth Sciences and the Cave Research Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority photographer, visited the cave. Their aim was to photograph the Paleo-Hebrew inscription written on the stalactite with multispectral photography that might be able to decipher additional parts of the inscription not visible to the naked eye.

While on the upper level of the cave, Asaf Gayer spotted an extremely well-preserved, Roman pilum— a shafted weapon in a deep narrow crevice. He also found pieces of worked wood in an adjacent niche that turned out to be parts of the swords’ scabbards.

The Judean Desert Cave Survey team, together with Asaf Gayer and Boaz Langford returned to the cave and carried out a meticulous survey of all the crevices in the rock, in the course of which they 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. Leather strips and wooden and metal finds belonging to the weapons were also found in the crevice. The swords had well-fashioned handles made of wood or metal.

The length of the blades of three swords was 60–65 cm, their dimensions identifying them as Roman spatha swords, and the fourth one was shorter with c. 45 cm long blade, identified as a ring-pommel sword. The swords were carefully removed from the crevice in the rock and transferred to the Israel Antiquities Authority climate-controlled laboratories for preservation and conservation. The initial examination of the assemblage confirmed that these were standard swords employed by the Roman soldiers stationed in Judea in the Roman period.

Did Jewish rebels hide their booty in the cave?

“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,” says Dr. Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the Judean Desert Survey Project. “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. We will try to pinpoint the historical event that led to the caching of these weapons in the cave and determine whether it was at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132–135 CE.”

Following the discovery of the swords, an archaeological excavation was undertaken in the cave by the Israel Antiquities Authority, directed by Eitan Klein, Oriya Amichay, Hagay Hamer, and Amir Ganor. The cave was excavated in its entirety, and artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic period (c. 6,000 years ago) and the Roman period (c. 2,000 years ago) were uncovered. At the entrance to the cave, a Bar-Kokhba bronze coin from the time of the Revolt was found, possibly pointing to the time when the cave served for concealing the weapons.

According to Amir Ganor, Director of the Antiquities Looting Prevention Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, and one of the Directors of the Judean Desert Survey Project, “The Judean Desert doesn’t cease to surprise us. After six years of surveys and excavations, in the course of which over 800 caves were systematically recorded over an area of 170 km of cliff-line, we still discover new treasures in the caves. In the course of the project, we unfortunately encountered tens of caves that have been plundered since 1947.

“I shudder to think how much historical knowledge would have been lost had the looters reached the amazing artifacts in this cave before the archaeologists. This time, thanks to the national project initiated by the Israel Antiquities Authority, we managed to get there before the looters, and to save these fascinating finds for the benefit of the public and researchers around the world.”

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Dr. Asaf Gayer of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Ariel University, says, “It is an honor and extremely exciting to take part in this discovery. The inscription and the weapons teach us a new chapter in the way in which the Jewish population exploited the Judean Desert caves in different periods. The wealth of finds exposes a new aspect of the ancient settlement in the ‘En Gedi oasis.”

According to Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, the Minister of Heritage, “We are once again presented with thrilling findings from the Judean Desert that offer a glimpse into the daily lives of our ancestors who resided in this area about 2,000 years ago. The discovery of these swords within a cave, where a Hebrew inscription dating back to the time of the Temple was previously found, serves as further evidence of the enduring tradition of the people of Israel, emphasizing the significance of both the written word and the sword, symbolizing both our spiritual and physical heritage. The Ministry of Heritage, in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority and its dedicated experts, will persist in their efforts to uncover, preserve, and transmit the rich history of the people of Israel within their homeland.”

According to Eli Escusido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “This is a dramatic and exciting discovery, touching on a specific moment in time. Not all are aware that the dry climatic conditions pertaining in the Judean Desert enable the preservation of artifacts that do not survive in other parts of the country. This is a unique time capsule, whereby fragments of scrolls, coins from the Jewish Revolt, leather sandals, and now even swords in their scabbards, sharp as if they had only just been hidden away today. The Judean Desert Survey, carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and the Archaeological Office for the Military Administration of Judea and Samaria, are writing new page in history books, and I am proud to present the first volume in the series.”

The preliminary article on the swords is published in the volume ‘New Studies in the Archaeology of the Judean Desert: Collected Papers’, that will be launched this evening in Jerusalem. The authors: Dr. Eitan Klein of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Dr. Asaf Gayer of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Ariel University, Amir Ganor, Hagay Hamer, Oriya Amichay, Shai Halevi, all of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Boaz Langford of the Institute of Earth Sciences in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Dr. Guy D. Stiebel of the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University.

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While I was on my 10-day Taglit Birthright Israel trip, I had the opportunity to go to the Dead Sea, and it was one of my favorite places I have ever been to. It was like no other place I’d ever seen. It was so beautiful, it felt like I was in a dream. Floating in the Dead Sea was magical, and the color of the water with the mountains in the background was unreal. This gem of Israel is by far the highlight of any trip to Israel and I hope to return again soon.

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth. It is the saltiest water body on the planet, with a salt concentration of 36 percent, so salty that no life can live in this sea except for some rare form of bacteria. When you go swimming in the sea, you float entirely. It borders Jordan and Israel and is the world’s most unique and extraordinary phenomenon, holding great historical and religious significance.

Unfortunately, the Dead Sea is shrinking, and at an alarming rate. According to EcoPeace, a trilateral water protection org working between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, the Dead Sea is dropping by more than one meter every year. This catastrophic event is in need of urgent matters as the disappearance of the Dead Sea would cause a multitude of problems. Already of which is the issue of sinkholes, which is caused by the salt deposits that dissolve underground and cause massive craters in the earth’s surface.

There are two significant reasons why the Dead Sea is shrinking, and it’s entirely man-made that has little to do with climate change. Water flows from the north, into the Sea of Galilee, down the Jordan River, and eventually makes its way into the Dead Sea. However, this process is being disrupted.

First off, no freshwater is coming from the Jordan River. This is because tributaries are being blocked and Jordan and Israel are diverting the water between the two of them. Oded Rahav, an expert on the Dead Sea and the founder and CEO of the Dead Sea Guardians organization, said only 8 percent of the water flows down the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. The rest of the water is getting pulled out so it never reaches the Dead Sea. This diversion of water from the Jordan River began in the 1960s when surrounding countries learned they can access freshwater from this flow. However, this process now is entirely unsustainable and urgently needs to be discontinued.

The second reason is due to dead sea factories extracting minerals. Both Israeli and Jordanian mineral factories are contributing to this problem (I wrote about the issue of resource management between countries in my article about why international environmental law is an important career). Companies like the ICL, for example, mine the dead sea for minerals because the Dead Sea is rich in minerals such as potash, bromine, sodium chloride (salt), magnesia, magnesium chloride, and metal magnesium.

Another company, The Dead Sea Works, is vastly contributing to mineral extraction from the Dead Sea, which people like Gidon Bromberg from EcoPeace are working to stop. These detrimental human activities are profitable yet unsustainable. This mineral extraction is largely intensifying the rate of evaporation in the Dead Sea and therefore contributing to its shrinking.

Other contributors to the Dead Sea shrinking include evaporation in the summertime and increased temperatures due to climate change, but as I mentioned before, diversion and mineral extraction are the most significant reasons for the Dead Sea shrinking.

These losses are causing great damage to the landscape around the Dead Sea. “Every three days we are losing one centimeter,” Rahav told Green Prophet. These losses from the Dead Sea are risking the formation of sinkholes. Sinkholes are vast and expansive, roads are falling through, and people’s livelihoods are at risk.

Alison Ron of the Ein Gedi Kibbutz feels saddened as she watches the Dead Sea shrink away each and every day. “The Dead Sea has character” she vocalized. “It’s hard watching something you grew up with sink away”. As sinkholes continue to pop up as the years go on, it is no longer an issue that can be ignored. This is the world’s greatest, most present issue to date that will be the first thing to go. Sinkholes are now forming rapidly. Over the past 40 years, there have been more than 8,000 sinkholes have formed and they are dangerous.

Luckily, there is hope. Organizations such as EcoPeace and The Dead Sea Guardians are rising up to come up with solutions. “So much of the rest of the Middle East is so unstable for various reasons that the water crisis further feeds that instability and could be the spark for a further internal uprising,” say’s Gidon Bromberg of EcoPeace, while he deals with a number of climate crises in Israel and the Middle East.

Some actions that EcoPeace is taking in regards to the Dead Sea is registering the Dead Sea as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This way, the Dead Sea would enlist requirements for sustainable practice and promotes regional cooperation in surrounding countries. Another EcoPeace plan of action is to rehabilitate the water that was lost and divert it back to the Jordan River. EcoPeace also aims to grant a public trust obligation to any company that wants to extract minerals from the Dead Sea. This would regulate mineral extraction in order to best preserve the sea.

Similarly, The Dead Sea Guardians is working to revive the Dead Sea through the Israeli government. The Dead Sea Guardians is trying to get the Israeli government to implement policies that would one, return water back to the Sea of Galilee and the lower Jordan River, and two, provide a framework to mineral extracting companies that would limit their volume of evaporated water that is done in their production methods.

While there are extraordinary companies working long and hard to stabilize the Dead Sea and return it to its original state, it is important that we continue to urge attention to this critical issue. There is no time to wait and this issue will not fix itself. The Dead Sea is remarkable and needs to be preserved for the rest of time.

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