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.”

RELATED: The Judean Desert goes green in the winter

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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It is raining again in Amman, Jordan today.  Our winter snow has melted, and new green growth fringes the open hills outside the city. But the contrast is not as striking as in this blooming desert.

I’ve only seen the Judean hills from an airplane, flying over low when I enter and exit Jordan. From the sky, it’s a barren expanse of yellow and gold sand, dry wadis etched in snakelike patterns between craggy hills. The relatively small desert (about 1,500 km2) is sparsely populated and bordered by the Mountains of Judea to the west and the Dead Sea to the east, where its ancient cliffs tower 300 meters above the shoreline.

Cohen told Jewish News, “The biggest storm of this winter in Israel, brought with it enormous amount of rainfall to all parts of the country including in places we would normally not even dream of having that much rain, such as Be’er Sheva in the Negev.”

Located about 1,200 meters beneath the Jerusalem Mountains, the desert acts as a basin for regional rainfall. This winter’s storms filled the usually dry valleys with strong water flows and flooding.  The result is a thick carpet of grass covering the desert’s hills.

Several ancient rivers cross the desert, creating canyons up to 500 meters deep. Some of these rivers flow year round and create oases such as Nahal Arugot, Nahal Prat, and Nahal David. Others lie dormant, only flowing in the aftermath of seasonal storms. The result is a constantly changing landscape.

Chalk hills, cliffs and mountains stand alongside plateaus, riverbeds, and deep canyons. This rugged landscape has provided isolation to monks and hermits throughout history, as well as refuge for rebels and zealots. This is also where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered hidden, decades back in a cave in Qumran.

For modern seekers of urban escape, the desert boasts nature reserves (Ein Gedi), historic sites (the Maccabees fortress, Masada), monasteries and spectacular panoramas.

There are so many ways to explore this unique landscape. Travel on foot, by bicycle, or with an SUV.  Go with a guide or trek it alone. Lodge in one of the many area hotels or camp out under the stars for a real desert experience. Cohen urges everyone, “Definitely consider paying a visit to the Judean desert, but hurry up before the desert will go back to its regular outfit – dry and yellow!”

Images by Nir Cohen from The Jewish News  

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The world is responding, but one slice of the planet has completely resisted the fun.  There’s not one photo uploaded from the Middle East!

The Topless Tour was started by three London-based dancer pals who – while hiking in Norway – spontaneously whipped off their tops for a discrete and arty photo (no word as to who actually snapped it!).  They posted it on Instagram; a trend was born.

Mainly inspired by dance, sport and yoga, the topless travel pix are tame. (See the lead photo of trend-starters Ingvild Marstein Olsen, Lydia Buckler and Olivia Edginton posing in Norway’s Rondane National Park.) Most all of the snaps capture people’s backs. The viewer follows the poser’s gaze to the scene beyond, and the bare-breasted play second fiddle to the stunning settings.

The trio told GrindTV that they became “addicted to the liberation” of being topless in the great outdoors.  They began taking more photos in new places, posting them under hashtag #thetoplesstour, attracting an international following with nearly 15,000 Instagram followers and 10,000 Facebook likes.

“The Topless Tour is the opening of your bare chest and heart to the world,” Edginton told the Daily Mail.

The photos are tasteful; nothing is gratuitous. (Although a few cheekier models also go bottomless.)

The remote settings are spectacular. Photos have been staged in California and Colorado, Cape Town and Vegas, Thailand and India – but not one originates from the Middle East or North Africa (MENA). Why is that?

Surely this region offers some of the planet’s best natural portrait studios.  So where are the shots from Jordan’s Wadi Rum, Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, or Israel’s Ein Gedi?

Photographer Spencer Tunick braved this region’s sensitive sense of modesty in his series of naked floats in the Dead Sea.  Lebanese Olympian skier Jackie Chamoun set off shock-waves when she posed partially nude on the slopes outside Beirut for a risque calender project.  Tunisian feminist Amina Tyler faced the camera head-on in her naked selfies. They’ve greased the skids for showing skin, so where is everyone else?

Check out the photos on Instagram or on their Facebook page. Why go naked?  The founding trio promises that “time will stand still and make you feel so alive.”

Are you a fun and fearless traveler? Want to bring attention to the natural wonders of the Middle East?  If you decide to drop your own top somewhere in the MENA region – please be respectful of local mores (and cautious of local laws!),  Tag your photos with #TheToplessTour, and do leave a link to your image in our comment section.

All images from #TheToplessTour Instagram site

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First observed around the Dead Sea in the 1980s, geologist Eli Raz estimates that today there are over 3,000 on the Israeli side alone.  “Sinkholes are caused by human irresponsibility,” he told Slate Magazine, “For more than 30 years, I’ve been trying to warn everyone—especially government officials—that if we don’t do something about the situation in the Dead Sea, the sinkholes will swallow us up.”

The Dead Sea (which is technically a lake fed by the Jordan River) spans more than 60 miles. Its shorelines include Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel.  Located 1,388 feet below sea level, it’s the lowest place on earth, and with no outlet for minerals deposited over millennia, its waters have become ten times saltier than the north Atlantic.

In the past half century, the populations of Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories have ballooned from 5 million to over 20 million. Along with Syria and Lebanon, these thirsty nations pull water from the Jordan River and its tributaries, cutting flow to the Dead Sea to less than 26 billion gallons per year compared to 343 billion gallons a century back.

Next, factor in Dead Sea industries like the Israel Chemicals Company and the Jordanian Arab Potash Company.  To support their mineral extraction processes, these companies extract enormous volumes of seawater, accounting for about 40% of the water level decrease.

As a result, the Dead Sea is shrinking over three feet a year and receding from the shore at an even greater clip. There are loads of videos to be found online showing the changes: the one below is short, vivid, and refreshingly void of conspiracy theories and New Age prophecy:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/3x2JlBctc7Y[/youtube]

Several nations have jurisdictions over the Sea, so remedies are fraught with international complexity.  Ongoing debate undermines action. And doing nothing is the worst alternative of all.

Signs in Hebrew, English, and Arabic warn to beware of sinkholes. Raz laughs, “How can you be careful? No one knows where the next one will open up. It’s only a matter of time until we have to leave this entire area.”

To date, no one has yet died in an Israeli sinkhole, but there have been serious injuries.  Sinkholes are a direct threat to agriculture and tourism, the main livelihoods of the kibbutzim and entire Dead Sea region.  Jordan is also investing heavily in regional tourism, and the Palestinians plan to develop resorts in their future state.

The unique Dead Sea natural habitat is also at risk as the surrounding ecosystem includes spring-fed oases that support a rich range of plant and animal wildlife.

How can an environmental catastrophe be averted? One possibility is a World Bank plan to replenish the Dead Sea with water from the Red Sea.  Environmentalists warn that the ecological effects of the long-touted Red-Dead project might drive the nail in the sea’s coffin.

Raz prefers to see the Dead Sea’s problems solved by rehabilitating the Jordan River and utilizing desalination to supply water to Israel’s densely populated Mediterranean coast.  But something must be done, and done now.

“Water should not be a reason for conflict—there isn’t enough to argue about, certainly not in the Dead Sea basin. Water should be the reason for smart, regional cooperation.” says Raz, “There’s an expression from the army: ‘If we can’t hang onto each other, we’ll be hung next to each other.’ But no one seems to get it.”

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Age-old agricultural techniques in the West Bank help conserve rare plants that might otherwise have perished, according to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

A new survey shows that farmers following traditional practices in the south Hebron Hills have sustained a large number of rare plants.  According to plant researcher Yair Or, the fieldwork turned up several species “that had been found decades ago in the Jerusalem area and since then had not been found and were considered extinct.”

Traditional Palestinian farming is practiced throughout much of the test area.  Therefore, researchers determined it has played an invaluable role in the survival of rare plants.

Unfortunately, not all agricultural practices are so helpful.  The hills around Ein Gedi were covered with at least ten species of trees and shrubs until 60 years ago, when land development in Israel intensified.  Those species had specifically adapted to Ein Gedi’s dry microclimate.

Groundwater pumping by Kibbutz Ein Gedi and land clearing by several farms eventually wiped out the native plants.  Now the Authority is rehabilitating Ein Gedi.  Park staff planted the first set of new flora about four years ago.

Rangers created intricate plans for seeding, germinating and caring for the fledgling trees and shrubs, according to the Authority.  After successfully developing a nursery with several hundred plants, ecologists planted experimental plots.  This process helped them learn to properly water and prune the trees and shrubs.

And the  Israel Nature and Parks Authority has worked diligently to preserve rare plants elsewhere in Israel.  In the Beit Netufa Valley – considered a flora hotspot – there are more than 60 species of unique plants, several of which are in danger of extinction.

A rare type of yellow-petal iris called Grant- Duff’s Iris is among them.  It densely populates the valley but is not adequately bearing fruit.  Hypothesizing that artificial agricultural growth is inhibiting insects from pollinating the irises, the  Israel Nature and Parks Authority initiated a breeding program for the flowers.

So why has agriculture in the Hebron Hills actually helped rare plants, in contrast to the deleterious effects of agriculture in Beit Netufa and Ein Gedi?

Traditional Palestinian agriculture utilizes low impact farming methods, such as harvesting by hand, avoidance or limited use of pesticides and fertilizers, and shallow plowing.  Several of the rare species that flourish in the area are annuals that grow amidst the cultivated crops.  They share a similar life cycle.

Additionally, these traditional practices promote rainwater percolation and soil aeration.  Several rare plants, particularly those with bulbs or corms, favor such conditions.  And the microclimate of the southern Hebron Hills is also partially responsible for the rare plant boon.

The findings in the Hebron area add credence to the beliefs of organic agriculture proponents.  Low-impact agriculture has been proven to conserve water, reduce pollution, and minimize exposure to crop disease.  Now those proponents can add another reason to their list – preservation of rare plants.

Professor Zev Naveh, an ecologist at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, notes that “the farmers of the Mediterranean area did not neglect and deplete the soils, but rather knew in different periods how to preserve them and to exploit their biological variety correctly.”

Ironically, it was originally human activity, including agriculture, that created the diversity of flora and fauna currently found in the Mediterranean Basin.

How wonderful to know that our agricultural practices need not be at odds with nature.  Turns out it isn’t necessary to wrestle the very lifeblood from the land to earn our daily bread.  Perhaps we have something to learn from the keepers of traditional farming in the south Hebron Hills, and from the generations of agriculturalists before them.

The post Traditional Palestinian Farming Spurs Rare Plant Boom appeared first on Green Prophet.

It is easy to criticize science for failing to predict the exact temperature to which the earth is expected to rise, or what year it will melt under the weight of our carbon blitz. Climate-change “deniers” then use this lack of precision to throw up their arms, buy hummers, and exploit every last drop of oil left on the planet – at whatever cost. But scientists are up for the challenge.

To find the necessary data to plug into prediction models, a US-manned drilling rig travels around the world churning up samples of the earth’s crust. These are are then used to map out the natural history in each area. That rig, after ten years of urging, has finally landed eight kilometers from Ein Gedi, in the middle of the Dead Sea, where for the next forty days and nights researchers will work around the clock using it to drill for sediment samples that will reveal 500,000 years of natural, and even human history.

The man leading the project has been busy this year. Professor Zvi Ben Avraham, head of the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center, is guiding the International Continental Scientitific Drilling Program – Dead Sea (ICDP-DS) under the auspices of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Earlier this year, he led the first really deep Mediterranean Sea expedition that revealed a coral reef previously unknown to science.

He explained to journalists that the program was first pitched ten years ago and that it is the most expensive (it will cost $2.5 million) and largest earth science projects in which Israel has participated.

The rig will dig half a kilometer deep for samples. Each centimeter of sediment thereby extracted represents roughly one hundred years of natural history – earthquakes, ice ages, low lake levels – that can be tested with a margin of error of just one year.

These sediments are then kept in test tubes and refrigerated. Although magnetic susceptibility testing is being done at the land-based testing center, most of the samples will be flown to the University of Bremen in Germany, the European repository for core samples.

Half of the sediments will be cut and stored, while the other half will undergo rigorous testing in laboratories throughout the world.

Like kids on a playground, each scientist is eager to expose samples to their own specialty of inquiry. Dr. Daniel Arztegui from the University of Geneva, for example, is particularly interested in bacteria and microbes that – remarkably – thrive on the highly saline Dead Sea environment. It will be the first time that his special DNA tests will be carried out in a saline environment.

Researchers also hope this expedition will show how the historic lake recovered from an earlier drop to 500m below sea level. The current level of 423m below sea level is down from 390m at the turn of the century, a trend that has caused international alarm.

:: story and image via Jerusalem Post

More Dead Sea News:

Harley Davidson Bikers “Vote for Dead Sea” With Their Tailpipes

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